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- Nicolas de Staël
- Nicolas Sarkozy
- Nina Hagen
- Olga Korbut
- Ona Munson
- Ornella Muti
- Parviz Parastui
- Pattillo Higgins
- Paul Claudel
- Pedro Brieger
- Penn Jillette
- Pete Sessions
- Peter Gallagher
- Peter Scolari
- Phil Simms
- Philip Loeb
- Philip Oakey
- Philippe Troussier
- Polly Draper
- Polykarp Kusch
- Priscilla Barnes
- Ran Ito
- Ray Buttigieg
- Ray Kroc
- Ray Ozzie
- Raymond Benson
- Reba McEntire
- Renzo Rosso
- Rich Mullins
- Richard Burmer
- Richard Hieb
- Richard Hilton
- Robert Ellis Orrall
- Robert Kabbas
- Robert Riskin
- Robin Yount
- Rodolfo Graziani
- Roland Emmerich
- Rosanne Cash
- Rowan Atkinson
- Rumiko Ukai
- Ruth Ellis
- Sandra Bernhard
- Sandy Allen
- Sanma Akashiya
- Sebastian Barry
- Sergei Shepelev
- Sergey Khlebnikov
- Shemp Howard
- Shinbo Nomura
- Shoko Asahara
- Simon Rattle
- Simon Yam
- Stanley Price
- Stephen Walt
- Steve Camp
- Steve Earle
- Steve Jobs
- Steven Brust
- Steven Culp
- Stéphane Dion
- Suguru Egawa
- Sun Myung Moon
- Susie Essman
- Tanya Roberts
- Teresa De Sio
- Theda Bara
- Theodor Innitzer
- Thomas Mann
- Tim Bray
- Tim Richmond
- Timmy Mallett
- Timothy Laurence
- Tom Bergeron
- Tom Powers
- Tommy Emmanuel
- Tommy Kramer
- Toninho Cerezo
- Tony Miles
- Tracy Hickman
- Trixie Friganza
- Valdis Zatlers
- Vincent du Vigneaud
- Vinod Khosla
- Vivien Savage
- Vladimir Nabokov
- Vladimir Sorokin
- Wallace Stevens
- Walt Disney
- Walter Hampden
- Wendee Lee
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Willem Dafoe
- William Stratton
- Willie Miller
- Winston Churchill
- Xu Bing
- Yasukazu Hamada
- Yevgeny Tarle
- Ylla
- Yoko Gushiken
- Yukihiko Tsutsumi
- Yves Tanguy
- Yūko Tanaka
- Zbigniew Preisner
- Zhou Enlai
- Željka Antunović
Send this Playlist by SMS
Fallout 1955 (Full 15 min Cold War Documentary)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:13
- Updated: 24 May 2013
A rather eerie and unsettling cartoon/live action Public Service Film produced by the Civil Defense Department trying to education the good citizens of the U...
http://wn.com/Fallout_1955_Full_15_min_Cold_War_Documentary
A rather eerie and unsettling cartoon/live action Public Service Film produced by the Civil Defense Department trying to education the good citizens of the U...
Skyline New York 1955
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 26:43
- Updated: 23 May 2013
A tour of New York City in late 1954.Footage from this subject is available for licensing from www.globalimageworks.com.
http://wn.com/Skyline_New_York_1955
A tour of New York City in late 1954.Footage from this subject is available for licensing from www.globalimageworks.com.
- published: 29 May 2008
- views: 105245
- author: The Travel Film Archive
Le Mans 1955 accident: Raw footages of the crash in HD (Read description)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:32
- Updated: 23 May 2013
Visit http://trajectoires.net to watch the preview of my project: Le Mans 1955 accident raw footages. This accident was captured at least on four different c...
http://wn.com/Le_Mans_1955_accident_Raw_footages_of_the_crash_in_HD_Read_description
Visit http://trajectoires.net to watch the preview of my project: Le Mans 1955 accident raw footages. This accident was captured at least on four different c...
- published: 06 May 2011
- views: 354065
- author: The Porsche 914 channel
Chuck Berry - Maybellene 1955
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:42
- Updated: 13 May 2013
First Rock and roll song in the world.
http://wn.com/Chuck_Berry_Maybellene_1955
Teaserama (1955) trailer
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:17
- Updated: 07 Mar 2013
Trailer for the 1955 burlesque film "Teaserama". Features Bettie Page and Tempest Storm.
http://wn.com/Teaserama_1955_trailer
Trailer for the 1955 burlesque film "Teaserama". Features Bettie Page and Tempest Storm.
- published: 06 Nov 2006
- author: sideshowcarny
1955 Disneyland Opening Day [Complete ABC Broadcast]
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 73:01
- Updated: 23 May 2013
Disneyland Park is a theme park located in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of the Walt Disney Company. ...
http://wn.com/1955_Disneyland_Opening_Day_Complete_ABC_Broadcast_
Disneyland Park is a theme park located in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of the Walt Disney Company. ...
- published: 17 Jul 2011
- views: 149220
- author: Marcio Disney
Hit Parade USA 1955 - Top 10 - DanntaS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:22
- Updated: 14 May 2013
music, hit parade, 1955, usa, top, billboard, chart, list, old, oldies, best., hits, songs, classics, romantic music, big band, ballads, orchestra, vocalist,...
http://wn.com/Hit_Parade_USA_1955_Top_10_DanntaS
music, hit parade, 1955, usa, top, billboard, chart, list, old, oldies, best., hits, songs, classics, romantic music, big band, ballads, orchestra, vocalist,...
- published: 26 Nov 2009
- views: 67840
- author: Licio Dantas Santos
Rode Safely Victor Horsman Liverpool 1955
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 27:22
- Updated: 19 May 2013
A motorcycle road safety from 1955, made by the Liverpool Motorcycle dealership Victor Horsmans. It is filmed in and around The Wirral and Liverpool City Cen...
http://wn.com/Rode_Safely_Victor_Horsman_Liverpool_1955
A motorcycle road safety from 1955, made by the Liverpool Motorcycle dealership Victor Horsmans. It is filmed in and around The Wirral and Liverpool City Cen...
- published: 24 Jul 2011
- views: 42088
- author: stephencd1
Jack Gives Johnny Carson Advice (1955)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:17
- Updated: 17 May 2013
Originally aired in 1955 (season 6, episode 4) of the Jack Benny Program. Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky in 1894) was a contemporary of the Marx Brothers...
http://wn.com/Jack_Gives_Johnny_Carson_Advice_1955
Originally aired in 1955 (season 6, episode 4) of the Jack Benny Program. Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky in 1894) was a contemporary of the Marx Brothers...
- published: 29 Nov 2006
- views: 330470
- author: ALSmithey
Judy Garland - Over the Rainbow 1955
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:32
- Updated: 23 May 2013
Judy Garland singing her most famous song 'Over the rainbow' in 1955.
http://wn.com/Judy_Garland_Over_the_Rainbow_1955
Judy Garland singing her most famous song 'Over the rainbow' in 1955.
- published: 13 Jun 2008
- views: 2466777
- author: ♫ Because I knew you...I have been changed...for good ♫
1955 Chevy drag race crash
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:44
- Updated: 09 May 2013
1955 Chevy drag race crash. Driver ejected from the car.
http://wn.com/1955_Chevy_drag_race_crash
1955 Chevy drag race crash. Driver ejected from the car.
- published: 09 May 2007
- views: 427087
- author: 55crash
1955 Le Mans Cras
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:23
- Updated: 25 May 2013
The worst accident in motor racing history happened at the 1955 running of the 24 hours of Le Mans. A collision between a Mercedes and an Austin-Healy sent t...
http://wn.com/1955_Le_Mans_Cras
The worst accident in motor racing history happened at the 1955 running of the 24 hours of Le Mans. A collision between a Mercedes and an Austin-Healy sent t...
- published: 24 Jan 2007
- views: 1182503
- author: ancientpelican's channel
First Flying Platform - 1955 Hover Board
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:58
- Updated: 11 May 2013
Flying Platform. US Navy demonstrates its Flying Platform in 1955, a "flying skateboard" or "hover board" vehicle that uses a direct lift rotor aircraft, usi...
http://wn.com/First_Flying_Platform_1955_Hover_Board
Flying Platform. US Navy demonstrates its Flying Platform in 1955, a "flying skateboard" or "hover board" vehicle that uses a direct lift rotor aircraft, usi...
- published: 14 May 2012
- views: 89232
- author: britishpathe
Mari Mengundi Pilihanraya Pertama Tanah Melayu pada tahun 1955
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:38
- Updated: 20 May 2013
http://wn.com/Mari_Mengundi_Pilihanraya_Pertama_Tanah_Melayu_pada_tahun_1955
Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne (1955)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 93:21
- Updated: 23 May 2013
Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne ist ein deutscher Spielfilm aus dem Jahr 1955, entstanden unter der Regie von Hans Quest mit Heinz Rühmann in der Hauptrolle. Di...
http://wn.com/Wenn_der_Vater_mit_dem_Sohne_1955
Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne ist ein deutscher Spielfilm aus dem Jahr 1955, entstanden unter der Regie von Hans Quest mit Heinz Rühmann in der Hauptrolle. Di...
- published: 21 Apr 2012
- views: 86367
- author: DollabiIIz2's channel
Marty McFly - Johnny B Goode 1955
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:57
- Updated: 24 May 2013
Back to the Future 1. Marty McFly singing Johnny B Goode. This IS McFly related :P.
http://wn.com/Marty_McFly_Johnny_B_Goode_1955
Back to the Future 1. Marty McFly singing Johnny B Goode. This IS McFly related :P.
- published: 28 Oct 2011
- views: 787836
- author: Vicky Falcon
Uit de oude doos 1950-1955 no1.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:13
- Updated: 22 Apr 2013
Oude filmbeelden uit 1950-1955 uit het polygoon journaal.
http://wn.com/Uit_de_oude_doos_1950-1955_no1
Oude filmbeelden uit 1950-1955 uit het polygoon journaal.
- published: 08 Nov 2010
- views: 13368
- author: Karst Wensink
Carnival In Rio 1955
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:01
- Updated: 10 May 2013
A tour of Rio de Janeiro and the annual carnival in the 1950s. Good POV aerial PANs over Rio De Janeiro. Pan American four engine clipper landing at airport,...
http://wn.com/Carnival_In_Rio_1955
A tour of Rio de Janeiro and the annual carnival in the 1950s. Good POV aerial PANs over Rio De Janeiro. Pan American four engine clipper landing at airport,...
- published: 19 Apr 2008
- views: 206148
- author: travelfilmarchive
Jack Benny vs. Groucho 1955
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:59
- Updated: 22 May 2013
On his TV show, Jack Benny plays a contestant on Groucho's "You Bet Your Life" Program. That's Irene Tedrow in between the two masters. This is just a treasu...
http://wn.com/Jack_Benny_vs_Groucho_1955
On his TV show, Jack Benny plays a contestant on Groucho's "You Bet Your Life" Program. That's Irene Tedrow in between the two masters. This is just a treasu...
- published: 11 Apr 2007
- views: 909903
- author: Gary Peterson
Laurence Olivier in Shakespeare's Richard III - Now Is The Winter Of Our Discontent. (1955)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:05
- Updated: 23 May 2013
http://wn.com/Laurence_Olivier_in_Shakespeare's_Richard_III_Now_Is_The_Winter_Of_Our_Discontent_1955
Uit de oude doos 1950- 1955 deel 4.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:01
- Updated: 07 Apr 2013
Oude filmbeelden van 1953-1954 uit het polygoon jornaal.
http://wn.com/Uit_de_oude_doos_1950_1955_deel_4
Oude filmbeelden van 1953-1954 uit het polygoon jornaal.
- published: 06 Dec 2010
- views: 9948
- author: Karst Wensink
Saul Bass title sequence - The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:21
- Updated: 18 May 2013
http://www.annyas.com/screenshots/updates/saul-bass-the-man-with-the-golden-arm-1955/ Title sequence designed by Saul Bass, from the film "The Man with the G...
http://wn.com/Saul_Bass_title_sequence_The_Man_with_the_Golden_Arm_1955
http://www.annyas.com/screenshots/updates/saul-bass-the-man-with-the-golden-arm-1955/ Title sequence designed by Saul Bass, from the film "The Man with the G...
- published: 01 Sep 2010
- views: 68738
- author: MovieTitles
1955 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:14
- Updated: 09 May 2013
http://wn.com/1955_Formula_1_Monaco_Grand_Prix
photo: Creative Commons
25 May 2013
LONDON — The streets of Stockholm were quieter late Friday after five consecutive nights of rioting that rocked the Swedish capital and shook the Scandinavian country's self-image as a tolerant, liberal place. Since Sunday, sections of northwest and south Stockholm have been lighted up with the glow of fires started by rock-throwing rioters, apparently protesting a fatal shooting by police last week ... Copyright © 2013,. 0 ... ... ....(size: 6.5Kb)
photo: AP / Alastair Grant
24 May 2013
Police in London have arrested a man and a woman in connection with the murder of a British soldier near a military barrack. Detectives said on Thursday they had arrested the unidentified suspects, both aged 29, over the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, 25, who was hacked to death in Woolwich on Wednesday ... "Many lines of inquiry are being followed by detectives and the investigation is progressing well." ... 824 Source. ... UK....(size: 9.2Kb)
photo: AP / Alastair Grant
23 May 2013
May 23, 2013 -- Updated 0227 GMT (1027 HKT). London (CNN) -- Security experts are starting to analyze events leading up to the horrific cleaver attack of a man believed to be a British soldier on the suburban streets of London. One key line of inquiry they'll be following among the many leads. How does this attack relate to other incidents around the world? ... READ. Victim hacked to death ... Terrorism expert on London attack. Cameron ... Witness ... ]....(size: 9.8Kb)
photo: AP / Shaam News Network via AP video
24 May 2013
Russia says the Syrian government had agreed in principle to attend an international peace conference proposed by Russia and the US, and criticised what it called attempts to undermine peace efforts. The summit has been suggested by the US and Russia and could take place in the Swiss city of Geneva ... Some European media have reported that the conference has been tentatively scheduled to be held on June 10 ... 444 Source. ... ....(size: 7.5Kb)
photo: USAF / Senior Airman Larry E. Reid Jr
24 May 2013
President Barack Obama combined a vigorous defence of his controversial use of drones with a no less impassioned demand for the closure of the notorious prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which he called “a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law.” ... The President's remarks coincided with the issuance of a new "Presidential policy guidance" on drone strikes....(size: 4.5Kb)
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The Examiner
25 May 2013
Tweet. 0 Email. Report. Photo 1 of 20. 1955 Chrysler Imperial Newport - Front1955 Chrysler Imperial Newport - Back1955 Chrysler New Yorker St. Regis - Front1955 Chrysler New Yorker St ... Black Lotus Brewing Company. 6 Photos. Genuine Scooter Company Family Reunion Ride - Chicago. 20 Photos. Ticks in Michigan. 3 Photos ... 1955 Chrysler Imperial Newport - Front Credit ... Comments ... Christmas surprise - Chrysler Corporation's 1955 parade of cars (Photos) ... ....(size: 4.9Kb)
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Taipei Times
25 May 2013
Christian Mountain Children’s Home’s social work section chief Liu Hsing-chien (劉行健) said Yang founded the orphanage in 1955 in the then-Kaohsiung county’s Liouguei Township (六龜) ... Yang took up a teaching post in Liouguei in 1955 and started providing much-needed financial assistance to children who could not afford an education, as well as to the ......(size: 3.3Kb)
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Starpulse
25 May 2013
Happy Birthday to.. Actress Anne Heche (1969). Norwegian singer Marion Raven (1984). Actress Monica Keena (1979). Actor Ethan Suplee (1976). Actor Cillian Murphy (1976) ... Actress Connie Sellecca (1955) ... 2007) ... 1994) ... or ... ....(size: 1.3Kb)
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Fresno Bee
25 May 2013
Thumbs up to Gerre Brenneman, who celebrated her 25th year as executive director of the Evangel Home at an event with board and staff members ... The faith-based organization, founded in 1955 by Pauline Baker Myers, has been totally supported by individuals, churches, and groups -- never receiving government funding ... ....(size: 1.5Kb)
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Seattle Post
25 May 2013
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y ... A new exhibit, "The Pickup Truck ... Other old trucks on exhibit are two Ford Model TTs from the 1920s and a 1955 Chevrolet 3100 ... 31....(size: 0.8Kb)
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Fresno Bee
25 May 2013
Here are 10 things to know about Saturday's game. ... The tournament began in 1955, originally known as the European Cup, before changing name in 1992 when it was expanded to include more teams ... ....(size: 0.9Kb)
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Buffalo News
25 May 2013
May 11, 1930 – May 18, 2013. Dr. Carlos E. Villarini, a pediatrician in the Southtowns for 37 years, died last Saturday at his home in Fox Run, Orchard Park, after a long illness ... Dr. Villarini began his internship in 1955 at Mercy Hospital and completed his pediatric training at Children’s Hospital ... ....(size: 1.5Kb)
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Canberra Times
25 May 2013
The Melbourne Theatre Company is today mourning the loss of its founder and longest-serving Artistic Director, John Sumner AO CBE ... MTC Chairman, Derek Young, said. "John Sumner’s contribution to Australian theatre is unparalleled ... John Sumner served as Artistic Director from 1953 to 1955 before returning to the position for another 28 years ... . ....(size: 1.7Kb)
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Canberra Times
25 May 2013
Sumner, 88, died on Friday after a short illness. During his time as the founding artistic director of what was originally called the Union Theatre Repertory Company, from 1953 to 1955 and again from 1959 to 1987, Sumner directed more than 100 productions, including Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll ... ''He was intensely interested in what was going on,'' he said ... ....(size: 1.8Kb)
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Seattle Post
25 May 2013
MOUNT VERNON -- Inspection reports of the Skagit River bridge that collapsed Thursday night show this is far from the first time it's been hit by a big truck ... Investigators say the history and surveillance video of the crash will all be part of the investigation ... The bridge is considered structurally obsolete, meaning the span built in 1955 does not meet current specifications, such as wider shoulders and higher superstructure ... ....(size: 1.9Kb)
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The Examiner
25 May 2013
Ike Turner recorded the first “rock” record in 1951. Bill Haley scored the genre’s first mega-hit in 1955 with “Rock Around the Clock.” The song’s appearance in the film, Blackboard Jungle, brought the musical rock n roll into the world’s consciousness and spawned riots. However, Turner was black and Haley was a pudgy, older rockabilly act with little sex appeal ... The song went to #1 on the charts ... “Maybellene” made Berry a star in 1955 ... ....(size: 7.8Kb)
This article is about the year 1955.
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1920s 1930s 1940s – 1950s – 1960s 1970s 1980s |
| Years: | 1952 1953 1954 – 1955 – 1956 1957 1958 |
| 1955 by topic: |
| Subject |
| By country |
| Leaders |
| Birth and death categories |
| Establishments and disestablishments categories |
| Works and introductions categories |
| Gregorian calendar | 1955 MCMLV |
| Ab urbe condita | 2708 |
| Armenian calendar | 1404 ԹՎ ՌՆԴ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6705 |
| Bahá'í calendar | 111–112 |
| Bengali calendar | 1362 |
| Berber calendar | 2905 |
| British Regnal year | 3 Eliz. 2 – 4 Eliz. 2 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2499 |
| Burmese calendar | 1317 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7463–7464 |
| Chinese calendar | 甲午年十二月初八日 (4591/4651-12-8) — to —
乙未年十一月十八日(4592/4652-11-18) |
| Coptic calendar | 1671–1672 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1947–1948 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5715–5716 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2011–2012 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1877–1878 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5056–5057 |
| Holocene calendar | 11955 |
| Iranian calendar | 1333–1334 |
| Islamic calendar | 1374–1375 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 30 (昭和30年) |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4288 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 44 民國44年 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2498 |
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1955 |
Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events[link]
January[link]
- January 2 – José Antonio Remón Cantera, president of Panama, is assassinated at a race track in Panama City.
- January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
- January 7 – Marian Anderson is the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
- January 18–January 20 – Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan).
- January 19 – The game Scrabble debuts.
- January 22 – The Pentagon announces a plan to develop ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) armed with nuclear weapons.
- January 23 – Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17 near Birmingham, England.
- January 25 – Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941.
- January 28 – United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from the People's Republic of China.
February[link]
- February 1 – Ray Kroc opens a McDonald's fast food restaurant (the company's 9th since it was founded in 1940), but Kroc later takes over the company and oversees its worldwide expansion.
- February 4 – Pact of Mutual Cooperation "Baghdad Pact" signed.
- February 10 – Seventh Fleet of the United States Navy helps the Republic of China evacuate Chinese Nationalist army and residents from the Tachen Islands to Taiwan.
- February 12 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
- February 16 – Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.
- February 19 – Southeast Asia Treaty Organization established.
- February 22 – In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor Martin H. Kennelly loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley, 364,839 to 264,77.
March[link]
- March 2 – Claudette Colvin (a fifteen year old African American girl) refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to a white woman after the driver demands it. She is carried off the bus backwards whilst being kicked and handcuffed and harassed on the way to the police station.
- March 5 – WBBJ-TV signs on the air in the Jackson, Tennessee, with WDXI as its initial call-letters, to expanded American commercial television in mostly-rural areas.
- March 7 – The Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, which had opened in 1954 starring Mary Martin, is presented on television for the first time by NBC-TV with its original cast, as an installment of Producers' Showcase. It is also the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV almost exactly as it was performed on stage. This program gains the largest viewership of a TV special up to this time, and it becomes one of the first great TV family musical classics.
- March 17 – The Richard Riot occurs in Montreal.
- March 19 – KXTV of Stockton, California, signs on the air in the United States, being the 100th commercial television station in this country.
- March 20 – Evan Hunter's movie adaptation of the novel Blackboard Jungle premieres in the United States, featuring the famous single, Rock Around the Clock, by Bill Haley and His Comets. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.
April[link]
- April 1 – EOKA A starts a revolution British rule in Cyprus (taken over from the Ottoman Empire in 1878 and a Crown Colony since 1925).
- April 5
- Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- Richard J. Daley defeats Robert Merrian to become Mayor of Chicago by a vote of 708,222 to 581,555.
- April 6 – Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- April 11 – The Taiwanese Kuomintang put a time-bomb on the airplane Kashmir Princess, killing 16 but failing to assassinate the People's Republic of China leader, Zhou Enlai.
- April 12 – The Salk polio vaccine, having passed large-scale trials earlier in the United States, receives full approval by the FDA.
- April 14 – The Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup for the 7th time in franchise history. Detroit wouldn't win the Cup again until 1997.
- April 15 – Middle East Treaty Organization (MENTO).
- April 16 – Burma-Japanese peace treaty, signed in Rangoon on November 5, 1954, comes into effect, formally ending a state of war between the two countries that had not existed for a long time.
- April 17 – Imre Nagy, the communist Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.
- April 18–April 24 – Asian-African Conference held in Indonesia.
May[link]
- May 1 – Warsaw Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance signed (Warsaw Treaty Organization) (effective June 6).
- May 5 – West Germany becomes a sovereign country recognized by important Western foreign countries, such as France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
- May 6 – WEU charter effective.
- May 9 – West Germany joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
- May 10 – Mark David Chapman, the man who, in 1980, shot and brutally killed former Beatle John Lennon, is born.
- May 11 – Japanese National Railways' ferry Shiun Maru sinks after collision with sister ship Uko Maru in thick fog off Takamatsu, Shikoku, in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan; 166 passengers (many children) and two crew are killed. This event is influential in plans to construct the Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge (built 1986-98).
- May 12– New York's Third Avenue Elevated runs its last train between Chathem Square in Manhattan and East 149th Street in the Bronx, thus ending elevated train service in Manhattan.
- May 14 – Eight Communist Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty in Warsaw, Poland, that is called the Warsaw Pact.
- May 15 – Austrian State Treaty, which restores Austria's national sovereignty, is concluded between the four occupying powers following World War II (the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France) and Austria, setting it up as a neutral country.
- May 25 – Joe Brown and George Band are the first to attain the summit of Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas, as part of a British team led by Charles Evans.
June[link]
- June 7 – The TV quiz program The $64,000 Question premieres on CBS-TV in the United States, with Hal March as the host.
- June 11 – Le Mans disaster: eighty-three people are killed and at least 100 are injured after two race cars collide in the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans.
- June 13 – Mir Mine, the first diamond mine in the Soviet Union, is discovered.
- June 16 – Lady and the Tramp, the Walt Disney company's 15th animated film, premieres in Chicago, Illinois.
July[link]
- July 7 – The New Zealand Special Air Service is formed.
- July 13 – Ruth Ellis (born 1926) is hanged for murder in London, becoming the last woman ever to be executed in the United Kingdom.
- July 17 – The American Broadcasting Company broadcasts a sneak preview of Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
- July 18
- Disneyland opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
- The first nuclear-generated electrical power is sold commercially, partially powering the town of Arco, Idaho.
- The Illinois Governor, William Stratton, signs the "Loyalty Oath Act", passed by the State Legislature, which mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath to Illinois and the United States, or lose their jobs.
- The first Geneva Summit meeting between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France begins. It ends on July 23.
- July 27 – El Al Flight 402 from Vienna, Austria to Tel Aviv-Yafo via Istanbul is shot down over Bulgaria. All 58 passengers and crewmen aboard the Lockheed Constellation airplane are killed.
- July 28 – The first Interlingua Congress in Tours, France, leading to foundation of the Union Mundial pro Interlingua.
August[link]
- August 19 – Hurricane Diane hits the northeastern United States, killing over 200 people, and causing over $1.0 billion in damage.
- August 20 – Hundreds of people are killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
- August 22 – Eleven schoolchildren are killed when their school bus is hit by a freight train in Spring City, Tennessee.
- August 25 – The last Soviet Army occupation forces leave Austria.
- August 27 – First edition of the Guinness Book of Records is published, in London.
September[link]
- September 2 – Under the guidance of Dr Humphry Osmond, Christopher Mayhew ingests 400 mg of mescaline hydrochloride and allows himself to be filmed as part of a Panorama special for BBC TV that was never broadcast.
- September 6 – Istanbul Pogrom: Istanbul's Greek minority is the target of a government-sponsored pogrom.
- September 10 – The long-running program Gunsmoke debuts on the CBS-TV network.
- September 14 – Pope Pius XII elevates many of the Apostolic Vicariates in Africa to Metropolitan Archdioceses
- September 15 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press.
- September 19–September 21 – The President of Argentina, Juan Peron, is ousted in a military coup.
- September 19 – Hurricane Hilda kills about 200 people in Mexico.
- September 22 – Independent Commercial Television (ITV) begins broadcasting in the United Kingdom.
- September 23 – Alec Guinness meets the actor James Dean. Guinness supposedly has a premonition of Dean's death.
- September 24 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States suffers a coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver, Colorado.
- September 30 – Actor James Dean is killed when his automobile collides with another car at a highway junction near Cholame, California. Dean is just 24 years old.
October[link]
- October 2 – Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV program debuts on the NBC-TV network in the United States.
- October 3 – The Mickey Mouse Club TV program debuts on the ABC-TV network in the United States.
- October 4
- The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is released from prison in Seoul, South Korea.
- The Brooklyn Dodgers finally win the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees 2–0 in Game 7 of the 1955 baseball playoff.
- October 5 – Disneyland Hotel opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
- October 11 – 70-mm film for projection is introduced with the theatrical release of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical film, Oklahoma!
- October 14 – ODECA secretariat inaugurated.
- October 20
- The first footage of Elvis Presley is filmed as part of a film short about the Cleveland, Ohio, disc jockey Bill Randle.
- Cardiff is announced as the capital city of the principality of Wales, within the United Kingdom.
- October 26
- After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares its permanent neutrality.
- Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam to be a republic with himself as its President and forms the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.
- October 29 – Soviet battleship Novorossiysk explodes at moorings in Sevastopol Bay, killing 608, the Soviet Union's worst naval disaster.
November[link]
- November 1 – The Vietnam War begins between the South Vietnam Army and the North Vietnam Army in which the latter is allied with the Viet Cong.
- A time bomb explodes in the cargo hold of United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6B airliner flying above Longmont, Colorado, killing all 39 passengers and 5 crew members on board.
- November 3 – The five-and-one-half-mile long Rimutaka Railroad tunnel opens in New Zealand.
- November 5 – Racial segregation is outlawed on trains and buses in Interstate Commerce in the United States.
- November 19 – C. Northcote Parkinson first propounds 'Parkinson's Law', in The Economist.
- November 20 – Bo Diddley makes his television debut on Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town show for the CBS-TV network.
- November 26 – The British Governor of Cyprus declares a State of Emergency on the island.
December[link]
- December 5
- The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to become the AFL-CIO.
- The Montgomery Improvement Association is formed in Montgomery, Alabama, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other Black ministers to coordinate a Black people's boycott of all city buses.
- December 9 – Adnan Menderes of DP forms the new government of Turkey (22nd government)
- December 14
- The Tappan Zee Bridge in New York opens to traffic.
- Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sri Lanka join the United Nations simultaneously, after several years of moratorium on admitting new members that began during the Korean War.
- December 22 – American cytogeneticist Joe Hin Tjio discovers the correct number of human chromosomes, forty-six.
- December 31 – General Motors Corporation becomes the first American corporation to make a profit of over one billion dollars in one year.
Date unknown[link]
- Strömsund Bridge in Sweden is completed, being the first significant cable-stayed bridge of the modern era.[1]
World population[link]
- World population: 2,755,823,000
- Africa: 246,746,000
- Asia: 1,541,947,000
- Europe: 575,184,000
- South America: 190,797,000
- North America: 186,884,000
- Oceania: 14,265,000
Births[link]
January[link]
- January 1
- Mario Andreacchio, Australian film director
- Mary Beard, British classicist
- January 2 – Vivien Savage, French singer
- January 6 – Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
- January 9 – J. K. Simmons, American actor
- January 13
- Ran Ito, Japanese actress
- Paul Kelly, Australian musician
- Jay McInerney, American writer
- January 17
- Steve Earle, American musician
- Mami Koyama, Japanese voice actress
- January 18 – Kevin Costner, American actor, producer and director
- January 19 – Sir Simon Rattle, English conductor
- January 20
- Joe Doherty, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
- Hiromi Ota, Japanese singer
- January 21 – Jeff Koons, American artist
- January 22 – Keiko Takahashi, Japanese actress
- January 26
- Edward Van Halen, Dutch-born American rock musician (Van Halen)
- Björn Andrésen, Swedish actor (Death in Venice)
- January 27
- John G. Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
- Alexander Stuart, British author
- January 28
- Vinod Khosla, venture capitalist
- Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France
- George Tokoro, Japanese TV personality and singer-songwriter
- January 29
- Eddie Jordan, American basketball player and head coach
- Femi Pedro, Lagos State, Nigeria
February[link]
- February 2 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet, writer and translator
- February 3 – Kirsty Wark, Scottish television presenter
- February 6 – Michael Pollan, American journalist
- February 7 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor
- February 8
- John Grisham, American novelist
- Xu Bing, Chinese artist
- February 9
- Charles Shaughnessy, English actor
- Jerry Beck, American animation historian
- February 10
- Chris Adams, British professional wrestler and judoka (d. 2001)
- Greg Norman, Australian golfer
- February 12 – Ai Satō, Japanese voice actress
- February 13 – Akiko Yano, Japanese singer-songwriter
- February 15 – Christopher McDonald, American actor
- February 17 – Mo Yan, Chinese writer
- February 19 – Jeff Daniels, American actor
- February 21 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor and comedian
- February 23
- Howard Jones, English musician
- Flip Saunders, American basketball coach
- February 24
- Alain Prost, French race car driver
- Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer (d. 2011)
March[link]
- March 1 – Sir Timothy Laurence, second husband of Anne, Princess Royal
- March 2
- Shoko Asahara, Japanese cult leader (Aum Shinrikyo)
- Jay Osmond, American pop singer
- March 3 – Kent Derricott, Canadian TV personality in Japan
- March 4 – Dominique Pinon, French actor
- March 5
- Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian
- Julien Dray, French politician
- March 6 – Alberta Watson, Canadian actress
- March 7 – Tommy Kramer, American football player
- March 8
- Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1981)
- Joellyn Auklandus, American writer
- March 9
- Ornella Muti, Italian actress
- Franco Uncini, Italian motorcycle racer
- March 10 – Youssra, Egyptian actress and singer
- March 11 – Nina Hagen, German pop singer
- March 13
- Bruno Conti, Italian football player
- Glenne Headly, American actress of film, stage and television
- March 15
- Robert Kabbas, Australian weightlifter
- Dee Snider, American rock singer (Twisted Sister)
- March 16
- Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
- Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
- March 17 – Gary Sinise, American actor, producer and director
- March 18
- Guillermo Dávila, Venezuelan actor and singer
- Dwayne Murphy, American baseball player
- March 19
- Bruce Willis, American actor
- Simon Yam, Hong Kong actor
- March 20 – Mariya Takeuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
- March 21 – Philippe Troussier, French football coach
- March 22
- Pete Sessions, American politician
- Valdis Zatlers, president of Latvia
- Lena Olin, Swedish actress
- March 23 – Moses Malone, American basketball player
- March 26 – Danny Arndt, Canadian ice hockey player
- March 28
- John Alderdice, Irish politician
- Reba McEntire, American country singer and actress
- March 29
- Earl Campbell, American football player
- Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor
- Marina Sirtis, English actress (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
- March 31 – Angus Young, Australian rock guitarist (AC/DC)
April[link]
- April 3 – Mick Mars, American rock guitarist (Motley Crue)
- April 5
- Janice Long, British radio disc jockey
- Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist
- April 6
- Michael Rooker, American actor
- Janet Ellis, British children's TV presenter
- April 7
- Grace Hightower, American philanthropist, actress and singer
- Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
- Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer turned journalist
- Akira Nishino, Japanese soccer player and manager
- April 8
- Kane Hodder, American actor
- Barbara Kingsolver, American fiction writer
- April 9 – Kate Heyhoe, American food writer
- April 11 – Kevin Brady, American politician
- April 13
- Steve Camp, American Christian musician
- Hideki Saijo, Japanese singer and actor
- April 15 – Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
- April 16 – Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
- April 18 – Bobby Castillo, American baseball player
- April 21
- Ebiet G Ade, Indonesian singer and songwriter
- Toninho Cerezo, Brazilian footballer and coach
- April 23
- Judy Davis, Australian actress
- Fumi Hirano, Japanese voice actress and essayist
- Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
- April 24 – John de Mol, Dutch media tycoon
- April 25
- John Nunn, English chess player and mathematician
- Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor
- April 26 – Chen Daoming, Chinese actor
- April 27 – Eric Schmidt, American software engineer and businessman
- April 28 – Eddie Jobson, English musician
- April 29
- Wendee Lee, American voice actress
- Kate Mulgrew, American actress
- Yūko Tanaka, Japanese actress
May[link]
- May 1 – Ray Buttigieg, Maltese composer and poet
- May 2
- Willie Miller, Scottish footballer
- Donatella Versace, Italian designer
- Dave Winer, American software pioneer
- May 3 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
- May 4
- Avram Grant, Israeli football manager
- Robert Ellis Orrall, American singer
- May 6 – Tom Bergeron, American television host
- May 8 – Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia
- May 9 – Anne Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
- May 10
- Chris Berman, American sports broadcaster (ABC Sports)
- Mark David Chapman, American murderer of John Lennon
- May 16
- Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
- Jack Morris, American baseball player
- Hazel O'Connor, English singer-songwriter and actress
- Debra Winger, American actress
- May 17 – Bill Paxton, American actor
- May 18 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor
- May 19
- James Gosling, Canadian software engineer
- Mark Staff Brandl, American and Swiss artist and art historian
- Th. Emil Homerin, American scholar of religion
- May 20
- Diego Abatantuono, Italian actor
- Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
- May 22
- Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, American jazz guitarist (d. 2008)
- Dale Winton, English radio DJ and television presenter
- May 24
- Rosanne Cash, American entertainer
- Rumiko Ukai, Japanese voice actress
- May 25
- Suguru Egawa, Japanese baseball player
- Connie Sellecca, American actress
- May 26
- Doris Dörrie, German actress and screenplay writer
- Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
- May 30
- Colm Tóibín. Irish novelist
- Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII, Japanese Kabuki actor
- May 31
- Susie Essman, American actress
- Tommy Emmanuel, Australian guitarist
June[link]
- June 1 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler (58th Yokozuna grand champion)
- June 2 – Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
- June 5 – Fernando Borrego Linares, Cuban singer and songwriter (aka Polo Montañez)
- June 6
- Sandra Bernhard, American comedian, actress, author and singer
- Chris Nyman, American baseball player
- June 7 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
- June 8
- Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor of the World Wide Web
- Griffin Dunne, American actor and director
- June 10
- Floyd Bannister, American baseball player
- Andrew Stevens, American actor, producer and director
- June 11 – Yuri Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower
- June 14
- Kim Lankford, American actress, businesswoman, and horse wrangler
- Paul O'Grady, English talk show host and comedian
- June 15 – Polly Draper, American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director
- June 16 – Laurie Metcalf, American actress
- June 18 – Sandy Allen, American, world's tallest woman (d. 2008)
- June 20 – Tor Norretranders, Danish author
- June 21
- Aloysius Amwano, Nauruan politician
- Jean-Pierre Mader, French singer-songwriter
- Leigh McCloskey, American actor (Dallas)
- Michel Platini, French football player
- Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
- June 22 – Glenn Danzig, American rock singer (The Misfits, Samhain, Danzig)
- June 23 – Alan J. Gow, British motorsport executive
- June 24 – Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Indian head of Siddha Yoga
- June 26 – Yoko Gushiken, Japanese boxer
- June 27 – Isabelle Adjani, French actress
- June 30 – David Alan Grier, American actor and comedian
July[link]
- July 1
- Sanma Akashiya, Japanese comedian and actor
- Lisa Scottoline, American novelist
- July 2 – Stephen Walt, American political scientist
- July 3
- Matt Keough, American baseball player
- John Cramer, American game show announcer
- July 5
- Sebastian Barry, Irish playwright, novelist, and poet.
- Henry Lee Summer, American singer
- July 8 – Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress
- July 9
- Fred Norris, American radio personality
- Jimmy Smits, American actor
- July 11 – Balaji Sadasivan, Singaporean politician and neurosurgeon
- July 18 – Bernd Fasching, Austrian painter and sculptor
- July 21
- Howie Epstein, American musician and producer (d. 2003)
- Marcelo Bielsa, Argentine football player and manager
- July 22
- Willem Dafoe, American actor
- Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistani politician
- July 26 – Michele Pillar, American Christian musician
- July 27 – Allan Border, Australian cricketer
- July 31 – Jakie Quartz, French singer
August[link]
- August 2 – Caleb Carr, American writer
- August 4
- Gerrie Coetzee, South African boxer
- Billy Bob Thornton, American actor, director and screenwriter
- August 6
- Ron Davis, American baseball player
- Gordon J. Brand, English golfer
- August 7 – Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
- August 8 – Diddú (Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir), Icelandic soprano and songwriter
- August 9 – Doug Williams, American football quarterback
- August 10 – Mel Tiangco, Television host and newscasters 24 Oras
- August 13 – Daryl, American magician
- August 14 – Gillian Taylforth, English actress
- August 17 – Richard Hilton, American businessman
- August 19
- Peter Gallagher, American actor
- Terry Harper, American baseball player
- August 20 – Agnes Chan, Hong Kong born TV personality in Japan
- August 22 – Chiranjeevi, Indian actor
- August 24 – Mike Huckabee, American politician, former Governor and 2008 Presidential candidate
- August 27
- Laura Fygi, Dutch singer
- Sergey Khlebnikov, Soviet speed skater (d. 1999)
- August 30 – Mayumi Muroyama, Japanese manga artist
- August 31
- Olek Krupa, Polish actor
- Edwin Moses, American athlete
September[link]
- September 1
- Billy Blanks, American martial artist, inventor of the Tae Bo
- Bruce Foxton, English musician
- September 2
- Robert Duncan, American astrophysicist
- Natalya Petrusyova, Soviet speed skater
- Michelle Yim, Hong Kong actress
- September 4 – Hiroshi Izawa, Japanese actor
- September 6 – Raymond Benson, American author
- September 7 – Efim Zelmanov, Russian mathematician
- September 9 – John Kricfalusi, Canadian cartoonist
- September 12 – Peter Scolari, American actor and comedian
- September 15
- Željka Antunović, Croatian politician
- Renzo Rosso, Italian clothing designer
- September 16 – Robin Yount, American baseball player
- September 17 – Charles Martinet, American voice-actor
- September 19 – Richard Burmer, American composer, sound designer, and musician (d. 2006)
- September 21 – Richard Hieb, American astronaut
- September 24 – Shinbo Nomura, Japanese manga artist
- September 25 – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German football player
- September 28 – Stéphane Dion, Canadian politician
October[link]
- October 2 – Philip Oakey, English rock musician (The Human League)
- October 5
- Jean-Jacques Lafon, French singer-songwriter
- Caroline Loeb, French singer and actress
- October 7 – Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese cellist
- October 13 – Sergei Shepelev, Russian ice hockey player
- October 15
- Kulbir Bhaura, British field hockey player
- James B. Aguayo-Martel, physician, surgeon, scientist, inventor
- Tanya Roberts, American actress (Charlie's Angels)
- October 18
- Hiromi Go, Japanese singer
- Timmy Mallett, British television presenter
- October 19 – LaSalle Ishii, Japanese TV personality
- October 21
- Yasukazu Hamada, Japanese politician
- Rich Mullins, American Christian musician (d. 1997)
- October 24 – Karen Austin, American actress
- October 25 – Glynis Barber, English Actor
- October 28
- Bill Gates, American software entrepreneur
- Indra Nooyi, Indian CEO
- October 29
- Kevin DuBrow, American musician (d. 2007)
- Etsuko Shihomi, Japanese actress
- Roger O'Donnell, English musician
- October 30 – Jeremy Black, British historian
- October 31 – Eduardo V. Manalo, 3rd Executive Minister (Tagapamahalang Pangkalahatan) of the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ)
November[link]
- November 2 – Chris Burnett, American saxophone player, composer, veteran of US military jazz bands and band leader
- November 3
- Phil Simms, American football player
- Yukihiko Tsutsumi, Japanese film director
- Teresa De Sio, Italian singer-songwriter
- November 4 – Moulana Ghousavi Shah, Author, (Secretary General: The Conference of World Religions)
- November 4 – Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
- November 5
- Pedro Brieger, Argentine journalist and sociologist.
- Kris Jenner, American TV personality
- Karan Thapar, Indian journalist, political analyst & commentator
- November 6 – Maria Shriver, American journalist, First Lady of California
- November 7 – Detlef Ultsch, German judo athlete
- November 9 – Karen Dotrice, English actress
- November 10 – Roland Emmerich, German film director
- November 11 – Jigme Singye Wangchuk, King of Bhutan
- November 13 – Whoopi Goldberg, American actress and comedienne
- November 14 – Koichi Nakano, Japanese bicycle racer
- November 19 – Dianne de Leeuw, Dutch figure skater
- November 20 – Ray Ozzie, American computer programmer
- November 21 – Kyle Gann, American composer and music critic
- November 22 – George Alagiah, British newsreader, journalist and television news presenter
- November 23 – Steven Brust, American author
- November 24 – Ian Botham, British cricketer
- November 25 – Bruno Tonioli, Film, music video & theater choreographer
- November 26 – Tracy Hickman, American Author
- November 27 – Bill Nye, American science presenter and public television host
- November 28 – Alessandro Altobelli, Italian football player
- November 29 – Howie Mandel, Canadian actor and game show host
- November 30
- Kevin Conroy, American voice actor
- Billy Idol, English rock singer
- Gordon Liu, Chinese actor
- Michael Beschloss, American historian
December[link]
- December 3
- Melody Anderson, Canadian actress and social worker
- Steven Culp, American actor
- December 4 – Maurizio Bianchi, Italian musician
- December 7 – Priscilla Barnes, American actress
- December 8 – Ian Greig, English cricketer
- December 9 – Asashio Tarō IV, Japanese sumo wrestler
- December 12 – Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek politician and businesswoman
- December 16 – Chiharu Matsuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter
- December 17 – Brad Davis, American basketball player
- December 16 – Rob Levin, American founder of the freenode IRC network (d. 2006)
- December 21 – Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
- December 23
- Keith Comstock, American baseball player
- Carol Ann Duffy, British poet
- December 24
- Mizuho Fukushima, Japanese politician
- Clarence Gilyard, American actor and college professor
- December 27 – Barbara Olson, American television commentator (d. 2001)
- December 31 – Jim Tracy, American baseball player
Date unknown[link]
- Gish Jen, American writer
- Mark Marderosian, American artist
Deaths[link]
January–February[link]
- January 1 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian scientist (b. 1894)
- January 2 – Jose Antonio Remon, President of Panama (assassinated) (b. 1908)
- January 6 – Yevgeny Tarle, Soviet historian (b. 1874)
- January 11 – Rodolfo Graziani, Italian General (b. 1882)
- January 15 – Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
- January 18 – August Duesenberg, German-born American automobile manufacturer (b. 1879)
- January 21 – Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
- January 24 – Ira Hayes, U.S. Marine (b. 1923)
- January 29 – Hans Hedtoft, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1903)
- January 31 – John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
- February 11 – Ona Munson, American actress (b. 1903)
- February 12
- Thomas J. Moore, Irish-American film actor (b. 1883)
- S.Z. Sakall, Hungarian actor (b. 1883)
- February 23 – Paul Claudel, French poet, dramatist, and diplomat (b. 1868)
- February 27 – Trixie Friganza, American actress (b. 1870)
March–April[link]
- March 8 – William C. deMille, American screenwriter and director (b. 1878)
- March 9 – Matthew Henson, American explorer (b. 1866)
- March 11 – Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1881)
- March 12 – Charlie Parker, American saxophonist (b. 1920)
- March 16 – Nicolas de Staël, Russian painter (b. 1914)
- March 23 – Artur da Silva Bernardes, President of Brazil (b. 1875)
- March 30 – Ylla, Hungarian photographer (b. 1911) (jeep accident)
- April 13 – Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
- April 18 – Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- April 25 – Constance Collier, stage & screen actress (b. 1878)
May–June[link]
- May 4 – Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
- May 10
- Tommy Burns, American boxer (b. 1881)
- John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist (b. 1865)
- May 11 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
- May 14
- Charles Pelot Summerall, American general (b. 1867)
- Anwar Wagdi, Egyptian actor and filmmaker (b. 1904)
- May 16 – James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)
- May 18 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator (b. 1875)
- May 22 – Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, American actor (b. 1891)
- May 26 – Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1918)
- May 30 – Bill Vukovich, American race car driver (b. 1918)
- June 5
- Pattillo Higgins, American oil pioneer and businessman (b. 1863)
- Herbert Stanley, Governor of Northern Rhodesia, Ceylon and Southern Rhodesia (b. 1872)
- June 11 – Walter Hampden, American actor (b. 1879)
- June 17 – Carlyle Blackwell, American actor (b. 1884)
- June 19 – Adrienne Monnier, French poet (b. 1892)
- June 26 – Engelbert Zaschka, German helicopter pioneer (b. 1895)
July–August[link]
- July 3 – Beatrice Chase, British writer (b. 1874)
- July 13 – Stanley Price, American film and television actor (b. 1892)
- July 23 – Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1871)
- July 20 – Calouste Gulbenkian, Armenian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1869)
- July 31 – Robert Francis, American actor (b. 1930)
- August 2 – Wallace Stevens, American poet (b. 1879)
- August 5 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese singer and actress (b. 1909)
- August 8 – Grace Hartman, American actress (b. 1907)
- August 12
- Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1875)
- James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- August 13 – Florence Easton, English opera soprano (b. 1882)
- August 17 – Fernand Léger, French painter and sculptor (b. 1881)
- August 28 – Emmett Till, American murder victim (b. 1941)
September–October[link]
- September 1 – Philip Loeb, American actor (b. 1891)
- September 20 – Robert Riskin, American screenwriter (b. 1897)
- September 23 – Martha Norelius, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1908)
- September 24 – Ib Schønberg, Danish actor (b. 1902)
- September 30
- Michael Chekov, Russian actor and writer (b. 1891)
- James Dean, American actor (b. 1931)
- October 1 – Charles Christie, American film studio owner (b. 1880)
- October 8 – Iry LeJeune, Cajun musician (b. 1928)
- October 9
- Theodor Innitzer, Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1875)
- Alice Joyce, American actress (b. 1890)
- October 18 – José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher (b. 1883)
- October 19 – John Hodiak, American actor (b. 1914)
- October 31 – William Woodward, Jr., American banker and horse breeder, shot to death by his wife (b. 1920)
November–December[link]
- November 1 – Dale Carnegie, American writer and lecturer (b. 1888)
- November 4 – Cy Young, American baseball player (b. 1867)
- November 5 – Maurice Utrillo, French artist (b. 1882)
- November 7 – Tom Powers, American actor (b. 1890)
- November 11 – Jerry Ross, American lyricist and composer (b. 1926)
- November 12 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
- November 14 – Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright (b. 1896)
- November 15 – Lloyd Bacon, American actor and director (b. 1889)
- November 22 – Shemp Howard, American actor and comedian (The Three Stooges) (b. 1895)
- November 27 – Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (b. 1892)
- December 1 – Chief Thundercloud, American character actor (b. 1899)
- December 6
- George Platt Lynes, American photographer (b. 1907)
- Honus Wagner, American baseball player (b. 1874)
- December 13 – Egas Moniz, Portuguese neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
- December 21 – Garegin Nzhdeh, Armenian statesman (b. 1886)
- December 25
- Elizabeth Harrison, daughter of President Benjamin Harrison and Mary Dimmick Harrison (b. 1897)
- Thomas J. Preston, Jr., professor of Archeology at Princeton University; he married Frances Cleveland, widow of President Grover Cleveland (b. 1862)
- December 27 – Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (b. 1881)
Nobel Prizes[link]
- Physics – Willis Eugene Lamb, Polykarp Kusch
- Chemistry – Vincent du Vigneaud
- Physiology or Medicine- Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell
- Literature – Halldór Kiljan Laxness
- Peace – not awarded
References[link]
- ^ "Strömsund Bridge (1955)". Structurae. http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0000070. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
http://wn.com/1955
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Chuck Berry | |
|---|---|
 Berry in Örebro, Sweden, on July 18, 2007 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Charles Edward Anderson Berry |
| Born | (1926-10-18) October 18, 1926 (age 85) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Genres | Rock and roll, blues, rhythm and blues |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1955–present |
| Labels | Chess, Mercury, Atco |
| Website | www.chuckberry.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Gibson ES-355 | |
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.[1]
Born into a middle class family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he served a prison sentence for armed robbery between 1944 and 1947. On his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, he was performing in the evenings with the Johnnie Johnson Trio.[2] His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. With Chess he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching No. 1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name as well as a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand. But in January 1962, Berry was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines.[2][3][4]
After his release in 1963, Berry had several more hits, including "No Particular Place to Go", "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine", but these did not achieve the same success, or lasting impact, of his 1950s songs, and by the 1970s he was more in demand as a nostalgic live performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable quality.[2] His insistence on being paid cash led to a jail sentence in 1979—four months and community service for tax evasion.
Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986, with the comment that he "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance."[5] Berry is included in several Rolling Stone "Greatest of All Time" lists, including being ranked fifth on their 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[6] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll included three of Chuck Berry's songs: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music".[7] Today – at the age of 85 – Berry continues to play live.
Early life and apprenticeship with Johnnie Johnson (1926–54)[link]
Born in St. Louis, Missouri,[8] Berry was the fourth child in a family of six. He grew up in the north St. Louis neighborhood known as "The Ville," an area where many middle class St. Louis people lived at the time. His father, Henry, was a contractor and deacon of a nearby Baptist church, his mother Martha a certified public school principal. His middle class upbringing allowed him to pursue his interest in music from an early age and he gave his first public performance in 1941 while still at Sumner High School.[9] Just three years later, in 1944, while still at Sumner High School, he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery after robbing three shops in Kansas City and then stealing a car at gunpoint with some friends.[10][11] Berry's own account in his autobiography is that his car broke down and he then flagged down a passing car and stole it at gunpoint with a non-functional pistol.[12][13] Berry was sent to the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men at Algoa, near Jefferson City, Missouri,[8] where he formed a singing quartet and did some boxing.[10]
After his release from prison on his 21st birthday in 1947, Berry married Themetta "Toddy" Suggs on October 28, 1948, who gave birth to Darlin Ingrid Berry on October 3, 1950.[14] Berry supported his family doing a number of jobs in St. Louis: working briefly as a factory worker at two automobile assembly plants, as well as being janitor for the apartment building where he and his wife lived. Afterwards he trained as a beautician at the Poro College of Cosmetology, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone.[15] He was doing well enough by 1950 to buy a "small three room brick cottage with a bath" in Whittier Street,[16] which is now listed as the Chuck Berry House on the National Register of Historic Places.[17]
By the early 1950s, Berry was working with local bands in the clubs of St. Louis as an extra source of income.[16] He had been playing the blues since his teens, and he borrowed both guitar riffs and showmanship techniques from blues player T-Bone Walker,[18] as well as taking guitar lessons from his friend Ira Harris that laid the foundation for his guitar style.[19] By early 1953 Berry was performing with Johnnie Johnson's trio, starting a long-time collaboration with the pianist.[20] Although the band played mostly blues and ballads, the most popular music among whites in the area was country. Berry wrote, "Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of our country stuff on our predominantly black audience and some of our black audience began whispering 'who is that black hillbilly at the Cosmo?' After they laughed at me a few times they began requesting the hillbilly stuff and enjoyed dancing to it."[8]
Berry's calculated showmanship, along with mixing country tunes with R&B tunes, and singing in the style of Nat "King" Cole to the music of Muddy Waters, brought in a wider audience, particularly affluent white people.[2][21]
Signing with Chess: "Maybellene" to "Come On" (1955–62)[link]
In May 1955, Berry traveled to Chicago where he met Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. Berry thought his blues material would be of most interest to Chess, but to his surprise it was an old country and western recording by Bob Wills, entitled "Ida Red" that got Chess's attention. Chess had seen the rhythm and blues market shrink and was looking to move beyond it, and he thought Berry might be the artist for that purpose. So on May 21, 1955 Berry recorded an adaptation of "Ida Red"—"Maybellene"—which featured Johnnie Johnson on piano, Jerome Green (from Bo Diddley's band) on the maracas, Jasper Thomas on the drums and Willie Dixon on the bass. "Maybellene" sold over a million copies, reaching No. 1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart and No. 5 on the September 10, 1955 Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.[8][22]
At the end of June 1956, his song "Roll Over Beethoven" reached No. 29 on the Billboard Top 100 chart, and Berry toured as one of the "Top Acts of '56". He and Carl Perkins became friends. Perkins said that "I knew when I first heard Chuck that he'd been affected by country music. I respected his writing; his records were very, very great." As they toured, Perkins discovered that Berry not only liked country music, but knew about as many songs as he did. Jimmie Rodgers was one of his favorites. "Chuck knew every Blue Yodel and most of Bill Monroe's songs as well," Perkins remembered. "He told me about how he was raised very poor, very tough. He had a hard life. He was a good guy. I really liked him."[23]
In late 1957, Berry took part in Alan Freed's "Biggest Show of Stars for 1957" United States tour with the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and others.[24] He also guest starred on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show, having sung his hit song "Rock 'n' Roll Music". The hits continued from 1957 to 1959, with Berry scoring over a dozen chart singles during this period, including the top 10 US hits "School Days", "Rock and Roll Music", "Sweet Little Sixteen", and "Johnny B. Goode". He appeared in two early rock and roll movies. The first was Rock Rock Rock, released in 1956. He is shown singing "You Can't Catch Me." He had a speaking role as himself in the 1959 film Go, Johnny, Go! along with Alan Freed, and was also shown performing his songs "Johnny B. Goode," "Memphis, Tennessee," and "Little Queenie." His performance of "Sweet Little Sixteen" at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 is captured in the motion picture Jazz on a Summer's Day.[25]
By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name, as well as a lucrative touring career. He had established a racially integrated St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand, and was investing in real estate.[26] But in December 1959, Berry was arrested under the Mann Act after an allegation that he had sex with a 14-year-old Apache waitress whom he had transported over state lines to work as a hat check girl at his club.[27] After an initial two-week trial in March 1960, Berry was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison.[28] Berry's appeal that the judge's comments and attitude were racist and prejudiced the jury against him was upheld,[3][29] and a second trial was heard in May and June 1961,[30] which resulted in Berry being given a three-year prison sentence.[12] After another appeal failed, Berry served one and one half years in prison from February 1962 to October 1963.[12] Berry had continued recording and performing during the trials, though his output had slowed down as his popularity declined; his final single released before being imprisoned was "Come On".[31]
"Nadine" and move to Mercury (1963–69)[link]
When Berry was released from prison in 1963, he was able to return to recording and performing due to the British invasion acts of the 1960s—most notably The Beatles and The Rolling Stones—having kept up an interest in his music by releasing cover versions of his songs;[32][33] along with other bands reworking his songs, such as the Beach Boys basing their 1963 hit "Surfin' USA" on Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen".[34] In 1964–65 Berry released eight singles, including three, "No Particular Place to Go" (a reworking of "School Day"),[35] "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine,"[36] which achieved commercial success, reaching the top 20 of the Billboard 100. Between 1966 and 1969 Berry released five albums on the Mercury label, including his first live album Live at Fillmore Auditorium in which he was backed by the Steve Miller Band.[37][38]
While this was not a successful period for studio work,[39] Berry was still a top concert draw. In May 1964, he did a successful tour of the UK,[35] though when he returned in January 1965 his behavior was erratic and moody, and his touring style of using unrehearsed local backing bands and a strict non-negotiable contract was earning him a reputation as a difficult yet unexciting performer.[40] He also played at large events in North America, such as the Schaefer Music Festival in New York City's Central Park in July 1969, and the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival in October.[41]
Back to Chess: "My Ding-a-Ling" to White House concert (1970–79)[link]
Berry helped give life to a subculture... Even "My Ding-a-Ling", a fourth-grade wee-wee joke that used to mortify true believers at college concerts, permitted a lot of twelve-year-olds new insight into the moribund concept of "dirty" when it hit the airwaves...
Robert Christgau[42]
Berry returned to Chess from 1970 to 1973. There were no hit singles from the 1970 album Back Home, then in 1972 Chess released a live recording of "My Ding-a-Ling", a novelty song which Berry had recorded in a different version on his 1968 LP From St. Louie to Frisco as "My Tambourine".[43] The track became Berry's only No. 1 single. A live recording of "Reelin' And Rockin'" was also issued as a follow-up single that same year and would prove to be Berry's final top-40 hit in both the US and the UK. Both singles were featured on the part-live/part-studio album The London Chuck Berry Sessions which was one of a series of London Sessions albums which included other Chess mainstay artists Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Berry's second tenure with Chess ended with the 1975 album Chuck Berry, after which he did not make a studio record until 1979's Rock It for Atco Records, his last studio album to date.[44]
In the 1970s Berry toured on the basis of his earlier successes. He was on the road for many years, carrying only his Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went. Allmusic has said that in this period his "live performances became increasingly erratic, [...] working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-of-tune performances" which "tarnished his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers" alike.[45] Among the many bandleaders performing a backup role with Chuck Berry were Bruce Springsteen and Steve Miller when each was just starting his career. Springsteen related in the video Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll that Berry did not even give the band a set list and just expected the musicians to follow his lead after each guitar intro. Berry neither spoke to nor thanked the band after the show. Nevertheless, Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. At the request of Jimmy Carter, Chuck Berry performed at the White House on June 1, 1979.[38]
Berry's type of touring style, traveling the "oldies" circuit in the 1970s (where he was often paid in cash by local promoters) added ammunition to the Internal Revenue Service's accusations that Berry was a chronic income tax evader. Facing criminal sanction for the third time, Berry pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to four months in prison and 1,000 hours of community service—doing benefit concerts—in 1979.[46]
Still on the road (1980–present)[link]
Berry continued to play 70 to 100 one-nighters per year in the 1980s, still traveling solo and requiring a local band to back him at each stop. In 1986, Taylor Hackford made a documentary film, Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, of a celebration concert for Berry's sixtieth birthday, organised by Keith Richards, in which Berry reveals his bitterness at the fame and financial success that Richards achieved on the back of Berry's songs.[47] Eric Clapton, Etta James, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray and Linda Ronstadt, among others, appeared with Berry on stage and film. During the concert, Berry played a Gibson ES-355, the luxury version of the ES-335 that he favored on his 1970s tours. Richards played a black Fender Telecaster Custom, Cray a Fender Stratocaster and Clapton a Gibson ES 350T, the same guitar Berry used on his early recordings.[48]
In the late 1980s, Berry bought a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri, called The Southern Air,[49] and in 1990 he was sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the ladies' bathroom. Berry claimed that he had the camera installed to catch red-handed a worker who was suspected of stealing from the restaurant. Though his guilt was never proven in court, Berry opted for a class action settlement with 59 women. Berry's biographer, Bruce Pegg, estimated that it cost Berry over $1.2 million plus legal fees.[50] It was during this time that he began using Wayne T. Schoeneberg as his legal counsel. Reportedly, a police raid on his house did find videotapes of women using the restroom, and one of the women was a minor. Also found in the raid were 62 grams of marijuana. Felony drug and child-abuse charges were filed. In order to avoid the child-abuse charges, Berry agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He was given a six-month suspended jail sentence, two years' unsupervised probation, and ordered to donate $5,000 to a local hospital.[51]
In November 2000, Berry again faced legal charges when he was sued by his former pianist Johnnie Johnson, who claimed that he co-wrote over 50 songs, including "No Particular Place to Go", "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Roll Over Beethoven", that credit Berry alone. The case was dismissed when the judge ruled that too much time had passed since the songs were written.[52]
Currently, Berry usually performs one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis. In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland, and Spain. In mid-2008, he played at Virgin Festival in Baltimore, MD.[53] He presently lives in Ladue, Missouri, approximately 10 miles west of St. Louis.[54] During a New Year's Day 2011 concert in Chicago, Berry, suffering from exhaustion, passed out and had to be helped off stage.[55]
Legacy[link]
While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. It was his particular genius to graft country & western guitar licks onto a rhythm & blues chassis in his very first single, "Maybellene."
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[56]
A pioneer of rock music, Berry was a significant influence on the development of both the music and the attitude associated with the rock music lifestyle. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics successfully aimed to appeal to the early teenage market by using graphic and humorous descriptions of teen dances, fast cars, high-school life, and consumer culture,[2] and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.[1] His records are a rich storehouse of the essential lyrical, showmanship and musical components of rock and roll; and, in addition to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, a large number of significant popular-music performers have recorded Berry's songs.[2] Though not technically accomplished, his guitar style is distinctive – he incorporated electronic effects to mimic the sound of bottleneck blues guitarists, and drew on the influence of guitar players such as Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker[2] to produce a clear and exciting sound that many later guitar musicians would acknowledge as a major influence in their own style.[51] In the film Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll Eric Clapton states 'If you wanna play rock and roll – or any upbeat number – and you wanted to take a guitar ride you would end up playing like Chuck...because there is very little other choice. There's not a lot of other ways to play rock and roll other than the way Chuck plays it; he's really laid the law down..." In 1992 Keith Richards told Best of Guitar Player "Chuck was my man. He was the one who made me say 'I want to play guitar, Jesus Christ!'...Suddenly I knew what I wanted to do." Berry's showmanship has been influential on other rock guitar players,[57] particularly his one-legged hop routine,[58] and the "duck walk",[59] which he first used as a child when he walked "stooping with full-bended knees, but with my back and head vertical" under a table to retrieve a ball and his family found it entertaining; he used it when "performing in New York for the first time and some journalist branded it the duck walk."[60][61]
The rock critic Robert Christgau considers him "the greatest of the rock and rollers,"[62] while John Lennon said that "if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."[63] Ted Nugent said "If you don't know every Chuck Berry lick, you can't play rock guitar."[64] Among the honors he has received, have been the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984,[65] the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000,[66] and being named seventh on Time magazine's 2009 list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all-time.[67] On May 14, 2002, Chuck Berry was honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Bo Diddley and Little Richard.[68]
Berry is included in several Rolling Stone "Greatest of All Time" lists. In September 2003, the magazine named him number 6 in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[69] This was followed in November of the same year by his compilation album The Great Twenty-Eight being ranked 21st in the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[70] The following year, in March 2004, Berry was ranked fifth out of "The Immortals – The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[6] In December 2004, six of his songs were included in the "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", namely "Johnny B. Goode" (# 7), "Maybellene" (# 18), "Roll Over Beethoven" (# 97), "Rock and Roll Music" (#128), "Sweet Little Sixteen" (# 272) and "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (# 374).[71] In June 2008, his song "Johnny B. Goode" ranked first place in the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".[72]
A statue 8 feet (2.4 m) tall of Berry, funded by donations, has been erected along the St. Louis Walk of Fame. The dedication ceremony attended by Berry was held on July 29, 2011.[73]
Discography[link]
Main article: Chuck Berry discography
References[link]
- ^ a b M. Campbell, ed., Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes on (Cengage Learning, 3rd edn., 2008), pp. 168–9.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Chuck Berry – Britannica Online Encyclopedia". library.eb.co.uk. http://library.eb.co.uk/eb/article-9078885#cite. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
- ^ a b "295 F.2d 192". ftp.resource.org. http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/295/295.F2d.192.16752_1.html. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
- ^ Bruce Pegg, Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry, pp 119 – 227. Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0-415-93751-5. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA121&dq=chuck+berry+Mann+Act&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q=chuck%20berry%20Mann%20Act&f=false. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ "Chuck Berry". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/chuck-berry.
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- ^ The 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll[dead link]
- ^ a b c d "Chuck Berry". history-of-rock.com. http://www.history-of-rock.com/berry.htm. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
- ^ Weinraub, Bernard (February 23, 2003). "Sweet Tunes, Fast Beats and a Hard Edge". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CEEDD113DF930A15751C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3. Retrieved December 11, 2007. "A significant moment in his early life was a musical performance in 1941 at Sumner High School, which had a middle-class black student body."
- ^ a b Weinraub, Bernard (February 23, 2003). "Sweet Tunes, Fast Beats and a Hard Edge - Series". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/us/sweet-tunes-fast-beats-and-a-hard-edge.html?pagewanted=4. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ Bob Gulla, Guitar Gods: The 25 Players Who Made Rock History. ABC-CLIO. 2008. p. 32. ISBN 0-313-35806-0. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DL3I9qQWdeAC&pg=PA32&dq=Chuck+Berry+armed+robbery&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=10#v=onepage&q=Chuck%20Berry%20armed%20robbery&f=false. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ a b c Pegg, Bruce (2005). Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry. Routledge. p. 14.
- ^ Chuck Berry: The Autobiography
- ^ Gerald Lyn Early, Ain't but a place: an anthology of African American writings about St. Louis. Missouri History Museum. 1998. p. 180. ISBN 1-883982-28-6. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=IRLhcVs_pJUC&pg=PA166&dq=%27%27Chuck+Berry:+The+Autobiography%27%27&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q=%27%27Chuck%20Berry%3A%20The%20Autobiography%27%27&f=false. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ Pegg, Bruce (2002). Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry. New York: Routledge. pp. 20–22. ISBN 978-0-415-93748-1.
- ^ a b Gerald Lyn Early, Ain't but a place: an anthology of African American writings about St. Louis. Missouri History Museum. 1998. p. 179. ISBN 1-883982-28-6. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=IRLhcVs_pJUC&pg=PA166&dq=%27%27Chuck+Berry:+The+Autobiography%27%27&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q=%27%27Chuck%20Berry%3A%20The%20Autobiography%27%27&f=false. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ "News about Chuck Berry's House in Greater Ville, St. Louis, MO". outside.in. http://outside.in/greater-ville-st-louis-mo/chuck-berrys-house. Retrieved June 16, 2010.
- ^ Cohn, Lawrence; Aldin, Mary Katherine; Bastin, Bruce (1993). Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. Abbeville Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-55859-271-1.
- ^ "The Official Site of Chuck Berry". chuckberry.com. http://www.chuckberry.com/about/bio.htm. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ Wittenauer, Cheryl. "Chuck Berry Remembers Johnnie Johnson". Associated Press. firstcoastnews.com. http://www.firstcoastnews.com/printfullstory.aspx?storyid=35622. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
- ^ "The Official Site of Chuck Berry". chuckberry.com. http://www.chuckberry.com/about/bio.htm. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
- ^ "Chuck 1955–56". Die-rock-and-roll-ag.de. http://www.die-rock-and-roll-ag.de/html/chuck_1955-56.html. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
- ^ Go, Cat, Go! by Carl Perkins and David McGee 1996 pages 215,216 Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6073-1
- ^ Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends who Changed Music Forever, page 86. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008 ISBN 0313338469. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=q-ET5tnh0MUC&pg=PA86&dq=ALAN+FREED%27s+%22BIGGEST+SHOW+OF+STARS+FOR+1957%22&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=2#v=onepage&q=ALAN%20FREED%27s%20%22BIGGEST%20SHOW%20OF%20STARS%20FOR%201957%22&f=false. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ R. Serge Denisoff, William D. Romanowski, Risky business: rock in film, page 104. Transaction Publishers, 1991, ISBN 0887388434. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kT0fKUCTUC4C&pg=PA104&dq=Jazz+on+a+Summer%27s+Day+chuck+berry&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=3#v=onepage&q=Jazz%20on%20a%20Summer%27s%20Day%20chuck%20berry&f=false. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ "allmusic ((( Chuck Berry > Biography )))". allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3664/biography. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ "The Long, Colorful History of the Mann Act : NPR". npr.org. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88104308. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ John Collis, Chuck Berry: the biography, page 102. Aurum, 2002, ISBN 1854108735. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0AgUAQAAIAAJ&q=chuck+berry+trial+1960&dq=chuck+berry+trial+1960&cd=8. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
- ^ Higginbotham, Aloysius Leon (1998). Shades of Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions of the American Legal Process. Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-19-512288-6.
- ^ Pegg, Bruce (2002). Brown-Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry. Routledge. pp. 123–24, p. 129. ISBN 978-0-415-93748-1.
- ^ "Chuck Berry Collector's Guide – The Chess Era (1955–1966)". crlf.de. http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/chessupto1966.html. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
- ^ Bruce Pegg, Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry, page 163. Routledge, 2005 ISBN 0415937515. http://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA163&dq=%22Chuck+Berry%22++teenagers+in+Britain&as_brr=3&cd=2#v=onepage&q=%22Chuck%20Berry%22%20%20teenagers%20in%20Britain&f=false. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
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- ^ William Emmett Studwell, David F. Lonergan, The classic rock and roll reader: rock music from its beginnings to the mid-1970s, page 81. Routledge, 1999, ISBN 0789001519. http://books.google.com/books?id=jhy_BdXuSm4C&pg=PA81&dq=%22Chuck+Berry%22++%22Surfin%27+USA%22&as_brr=3&cd=2#v=onepage&q=%22Chuck%20Berry%22%20%20%22Surfin%27%20USA%22&f=false. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
- ^ a b Bruce Pegg, Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry, page 168. Routledge, 2005, ISBN 0415937515. http://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA168&dq=%22Chuck+Berry%22++nadine&as_brr=3&cd=4#v=onepage&q=%22Chuck%20Berry%22%20%20nadine&f=false. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
- ^ Bruce Pegg, Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry, page 262. Routledge, 2005, ISBN 0-415-93751-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=6zJlmPLVoVgC&pg=PA262&dq=%22Chuck+Berry%22++No+Particular+Place+To+Go&as_brr=3&cd=1#v=onepage&q=%22Chuck%20Berry%22%20%20No%20Particular%20Place%20To%20Go&f=false. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
- ^ "Chuck Berry Collector's Guide – The Mercury Era (1966–1969)". crlf.de. http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/mercury.html. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
- ^ a b Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "Chuck Berry". rockhall.com. http://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ Rock music in American popular culture II: more rock 'n' roll resources, page 30. Routledge, 1997, ISBN 1560238771. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=C9hNX3tcKrEC&pg=PA30&dq=chuck+berry+1960s&hl=en&ei=zkH-S8iwJYSL4AbZraXZDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=chuck%20berry%201960s&f=false. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
- ^ Bruce Pegg, Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry, pages 173–174. Routledge, 2005, ISBN 0415937515. http://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA173&dq=%22Chuck+Berry%22++traveled+back+to+Great+Britain&as_brr=3&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
- ^ On this day in music history. Google Books. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-vpcsdAEMc0C&pg=RA1-PA258&dq=Toronto+Rock+and+Roll+Revival+chuck+berry&hl=en&ei=eEb-S_f2AoG44ga8673bDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CE8Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Toronto%20Rock%20and%20Roll%20Revival%20chuck%20berry&f=false. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1988). "Chuck Berry". In Anthony Decurtis and James Henke (Eds.). The RollingStone: The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music. New York: Random House. pp. 60-66. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-679-37328-6|0-679-37328-6]].
- ^ Bruce Pegg. Brown Eyed Handsome Man. Routledge, 2005. p. 184. http://books.google.com/books?id=jWO4gdorYBwC&pg=PA184&dq=%22My+Tambourine%22++%22my+ding+a+ling%22&hl=en&ei=oWfSTZT3B4qV8QO2muXlCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22My%20Tambourine%22%20%20%22my%20ding%20a%20ling%22&f=false. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ "Rock It Album Review, Songs, Ratings". starpulse.com. http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Berry,_Chuck/Discography/album/P3664/R30491/. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ "Chuck Berry biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3664/biography. Retrieved October 5, 2006.
- ^ Jet. Google Books. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wEIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- ^ Hackford, Taylor (March 16, 2007). "Rock'n'roll fireworks: Keith Richards and Chuck Berry together on stage – Features, Music – The Independent". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/rocknroll-fireworks-keith-richards-and-chuck-berry-together-on-stage-440364.html. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
- ^ Weinraub, Bernard (February 23, 2003). "Sweet Tunes, Fast Beats and a Hard Edge - Series". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/us/sweet-tunes-fast-beats-and-a-hard-edge.html?pagewanted=7. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ "Chuck Berry". history-of-rock.com. http://www.history-of-rock.com/berrytwo.htm. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
- ^ Weinraub, Bernard (February 23, 2003). "Sweet Tunes, Fast Beats and a Hard Edge - Series". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/23/us/sweet-tunes-fast-beats-and-a-hard-edge.html?pagewanted=6. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ a b "Chuck Berry: Biography". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 14, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080714112146/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/chuckberry/biography. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
- ^ "Rock pioneer Johnson dies aged 80". BBC News. April 14, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4443831.stm. Retrieved November 27, 2007.
- ^ "Official Concert Schedule (2008)". http://www.chuckberry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2076. Retrieved August 11, 2008.
- ^ "News Archive – October 2002". chuckberry.de. http://www.chuckberry.de/archive_october2002.htm. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
- ^ "Chuck Berry recovering at home from exhaustion after Chicago show". Chicago Tribune. January 1, 2011. http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/ct-live-0103-chuck-berry-review-20110102,0,7930886.story.
Chuck Berry felt ill on stage in Chicago 01.01.2011. YouTube. January 1, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbawWMn0Q0U.
Chuck Berry after collapse in Chicago 01.01.2011 – on Stage explaining What Happened. YouTube. January 1, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMl82G-Xamw. - ^ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "Chuck Berry Biography". rockhall.com. http://rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry/bio/. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
- ^ Jack Wilkins, Peter Rubie, Essential Guitar, page 68. David & Charles, 2007, ISBN 071532733X. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1V7DLrfSdwUC&pg=PT27&dq=guitar+showmanship+chuck+berry&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q=guitar%20showmanship%20chuck%20berry&f=false. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
- ^ Mark Phillips, Jon Chappell, Guitar for dummies, page 1. For Dummies, 2005, ISBN 0764599046. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jvNSyI6C3hEC&pg=PA1&dq=Guitar+for+dummies+duck+walk&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Guitar%20for%20dummies%20duck%20walk&f=false. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
- ^ Bob Gulla, Guitar Gods: The 25 Players Who Made Rock History, page 31. ABC-CLIO, 2008 ISBN 0313358060. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DL3I9qQWdeAC&pg=PA31&dq=chuck+berry+duck+walk&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=5#v=onepage&q=chuck%20berry%20duck%20walk&f=false. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
- ^ Berry, Chuck (1988). The Autobiography. New York: Fireside / Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-67159-6.
- ^ Chuck Berry biography at Thomson Gale
- ^ "Robert Christgau: Chuck Berry". robertchristgau.com. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/berry-76.php. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ "QUOTES – The Official Site of Chuck Berry". http://www.chuckberry.com/about/quotes.htm. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
- ^ Kitts, Jeff; Brad Tolinski (eds.) (2002). Guitar World Presents the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time!: From the Pages of Guitar World Magazine. Milwaukee, Wis.: Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 191. ISBN 0-634-04619-5. OCLC 50292711. http://books.google.com/books?id=Fg838EcECUwC&pg=PT196&lpg=PT196&dq=%22if+you+don't+know+every+chuck+berry+lick%22#v=onepage&f=false. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
- ^ "Lifetime Achievement Award". Grammy.com. http://www2.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
- ^ "Kennedy Center: Biographical information for Chuck Berry". kennedy-center.org. http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showIndividual&entity_id=3699&source_type=A. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
- ^ "Time Magazine Picks the 10 Best Electric Guitar Players". Fretbase.com. August 24, 2009. http://www.fretbase.com/blog/2009/08/time-magazine-picks-the-10-best-electric-guitar-players-including-yngwie/. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
- ^ "BMI ICON Awards Honor Three of Rock & Roll’s Founding Fathers". bmi.com. http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233284. Retrieved October 2, 2010.
- ^ "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Rolling Stone. Web.archive.org. May 5, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080505024015/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
- ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2003. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time/. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
- ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. classic-web.archive.org. http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20080622145429/www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 5, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080605032031/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527/. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
- ^ Gillerman, Margaret (July 29, 2011). "Chuck Berry honored with statue, celebration July 29". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/article_93266f3e-b9f2-11e0-ae77-001a4bcf6878.html. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
External links[link]
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Book: Chuck Berry |
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| Persondata | |
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| Name | Berry, Chuck |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 1926-10-18 |
| Place of birth | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Chuck_Berry
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Berry
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
Not to be confused with the US ambassador Johnnie Carson.
| Johnny Carson | |
|---|---|
 Carson in January 1966 |
|
| Birth name | John William Carson |
| Born | (1925-10-23)October 23, 1925 Corning, Iowa |
| Died | January 23, 2005(2005-01-23) (aged 79) Los Angeles, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1950-1994 |
| Genres | Satire, sketch comedy, improvisational comedy |
| Subject(s) | current events, American politics, American culture, pop culture |
| Influences | [list membership disputed] Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Bob Hope, Laurel and Hardy, Red Skelton, George Burns, Milton Berle, Steve Allen, Charlie Chaplin, Don Rickles, Michael Gough, Bob Newhart[1] |
| Influenced | [list membership disputed] Ray Combs, Ellen DeGeneres, Kathy Griffin, Bill Hicks, Jay Leno, David Letterman,[2] George Lopez, Bill Maher, Conan O'Brien, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling |
| Spouse | Jody Morrill Wolcott (m. 1949-1963; divorced) Joanne Copeland (m. 1963-1972; divorced) Joanna Holland (m. 1972-1985; divorced) Alexis Maas (m. 1987-2005, his death) |
| Notable works and roles | Host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson |
| Signature |  |
| Emmy Awards | |
| Special Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement 1976 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 1977 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 1978 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 1979 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Governor's Award 1980 Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program (Series) 1992 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson |
|
| Peabody Awards | |
| Personal Award 1985 | |
| American Comedy Awards | |
| Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (Leading Role) Network, Cable or Syndication 1987 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Lifetime Achievement Award 1992 Lifetime Achievement |
|
John William "Johnny" Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host and comedian, known for thirty years as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992). Carson received six Emmy Awards, the Governor Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Johnny Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.[3]
Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960s, during the 1970s Carson became an American icon and remained so until his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests, an approach pioneered by Arthur Godfrey and previous Tonight Show hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar. Late night hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Fallon have all cited [4][5] Carson's influence on their late-night talk shows, which resemble his in format and tone.
Contents |
Early life and career[link]
Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, in the year 1925, to Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson, a power company manager, and Ruth Hook Carson, who was of Irish descent.[6] He grew up in the nearby towns of Avoca, Clarinda, and Red Oak in southwest Iowa before moving to Norfolk, Nebraska, at the age of eight. At the age of twelve, Carson found a book on magic at a friend's house and immediately purchased a mail-order magician's kit. He debuted as "The Great Carsoni" at fourteen and was paid $3; many other performances at local picnics and country fairs followed.[6]
Carson joined the U.S. Navy on June 8, 1943, received V-12 officer training at Columbia University[7] and Millsaps College,[8] and continued to perform magic. Commissioned an ensign late in the war, Carson was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania in the Pacific. While in the Navy, Carson posted a 10-0 amateur boxing record, with most of his bouts fought on board the USS Pennsylvania.[9] He was en route to the combat zone aboard a troopship when the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war. Carson served as a communications officer in charge of decoding encrypted messages and said that the high point of his military career was performing a magic trick for United States Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal.
Carson then attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where he joined Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, continued performing magic (now paid $25 per appearance[6]), wrote a thesis on the structure of Jack Benny's comedy routines,[10] and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics in 1949.
He began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW radio and television in Omaha, Nebraska.[11] Carson soon hosted a morning television program called The Squirrel's Nest. One of his routines involved interviewing pigeons on the roof of the local courthouse that would allegedly report on the political corruption they had seen. Carson supplemented his income by serving as master of ceremonies at local church dinners, attended by some of the same politicians and civic leaders that he had lampooned on the radio.
In 1951 Carson visited California and unsuccessfully sought work. The wife of one of the political figures he spoofed owned stock in a radio station in Los Angeles and referred Carson to her brother, who was influential in the emerging television market in southern California, and later that year Carson went to work at CBS-owned Los Angeles television station KNXT.[6] He would later joke that he owed his success to the birds of Omaha. In 1953 comic Red Skelton — a fan of Carson's "cult success" low-budget sketch comedy show, Carson's Cellar (1951 to 1953) on KNXT — asked Carson to join his show as a writer. In 1954 Skelton during rehearsal accidentally knocked himself unconscious an hour before his live show began, and Carson successfully filled in for him.[6] In 1955, Jack Benny invited Carson to appear on one of his programs during the opening and closing segments. Carson imitated Benny and claimed that Benny had copied his gestures. Benny, however, predicted that Carson would have a successful career as a comedian.[12]
Carson hosted several shows besides Carson's Cellar, including the game show Earn Your Vacation (1954) and the variety show The Johnny Carson Show (1955–1956).[6][13] He was a regular panelist on the original To Tell the Truth until 1962. After the prime time The Johnny Carson Show failed, he moved to New York City to host Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962), formerly known as Do You Trust Your Wife?. In 1958 he appeared as a guest star in an episode entitled "Do You Trust Your Wife" on NBC's short-lived variety show, The Polly Bergen Show. It was on Who Do You Trust? that Carson met his future sidekick, Ed McMahon. Although he believed moving to daytime would hurt his career, Who Do You Trust? was a success. It was the first show where he could ad lib and interview guests,[10] and because of Carson's on-camera wit, the show became "the hottest item on daytime television" during his five years there.[6]
[edit] The Tonight Show
Main article: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
NBC's Tonight was the late-night counterpart to its early-morning show Today. Originating in 1953 with host Steve Allen, Tonight was somewhat experimental at the time, as the only previous network late-night program was NBC's "Broadway Open House". Tonight was successful, and when Allen moved on to prime-time comedy-variety shows, Jack Paar replaced him as host of Tonight. Paar left the show in 1962.
Johnny Carson's success on Who Do You Trust? led NBC to invite him to take over Tonight a few months before Paar's departure. Carson declined the offer because he feared the difficulty of interviewing celebrities for 1 3/4 hours (105 minutes) daily, but NBC asked him again after Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, and Joey Bishop all declined. Carson accepted in March 1962 but had six months left on his ABC contract, during which NBC used multiple guest hosts including Merv Griffin.[10][6]
Although he continued to have doubts about his new job, Carson became host of Tonight (later becoming The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) on October 1, 1962, and, after a difficult first year, overcame his fears.[10] While Tonight under its previous hosts had been successful, especially under Paar, Carson's version eventually did well in the ratings. Billy Wilder said of Carson:
By the simple law of survival, Carson is the best. He enchants the invalids and the insomniacs as well as the people who have to get up at dawn. He is the Valium and the Nembutal of a nation. No matter what kind of dead-asses are on the show, he has to make them funny and exciting. He has to be their nurse and their surgeon. He has no conceit. He does his work and he comes prepared. If he’s talking to an author, he has read the book. Even his rehearsed routines sound improvised. He’s the cream of middle-class elegance, yet he’s not a mannequin. He has captivated the American bourgeoisie without ever offending the highbrows, and he has never said anything that wasn’t liberal or progressive. Every night, in front of millions of people, he has to do the salto mortale [a circus parlance for an aerial somersault performed on the tightrope]. What’s more, he does it without a net. No rewrites. No retakes. The jokes must work tonight.[6]
McMahon followed Carson from Who Do You Trust? as his announcer and sidekick. McMahon's opening line, "Heeeere's Johnny" was followed by a brief monologue by Carson. This was often followed by comedy sketches, interviews, and music. Carson's trademark was a phantom golf swing at the end of his monologues, aimed stage left toward the studio orchestra. (Guest hosts sometimes parodied that gesture. Bob Newhart rolled an imaginary bowling ball toward the audience.) Johnny enjoyed what he called the "Carson Kits," or beautiful girls, to adorn his show. Theona Bryant, a favorite, was a model. The other "Carson Cuties" were Phyllis Applegate, Norma Brooks, and Sally Todd.
Paul Anka wrote the theme song, ("Johnny's Theme"), a reworking of his "Toot Sweet"; given lyrics, it was renamed, "It's Really Love," and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959. Before taking over The Tonight Show, Carson wrote lyrics for the song and thus claimed 50% of the song's performance royalties (even though the lyrics were never used). The theme is heard being played on sound recordings of Carson's first Tonight Show and it was used without interruption through to his very last broadcast in 1992.
The show was originally produced in New York City, with occasional stints in California. It was not live in its early years, although during the 1970s, NBC fed the live taping from Burbank to New York via satellite for editing (see below). The program had been done "live on tape" (uninterrupted unless a problem occurred) since the Jack Paar days. Carson had a talent for quick quips to deal with problems.[6] If the opening monologue fared poorly, the band would start playing "Tea for Two" and Carson danced, to laughs from the studio audience. Alternatively, Carson might pull the boom mic close to his face and announce "Attention K-Mart shoppers!"
Move to Burbank[link]
In May 1972, the show moved from New York to Burbank, California. Carson often joked about "beautiful downtown Burbank"[14] and referred to "beautiful downtown Bakersfield," which prompted Mayor Mary K. Shell to chide Carson and invite him to her city to see improvements made during the early 1980s.[citation needed]
After July 1971, Carson stopped doing shows five days a week. Instead, on Monday nights there was a guest host, leaving Carson to do the other four each week. Shows were taped in Burbank at 5:30 pm (8:30 pm Eastern time) to be shown that evening at 11:30 pm Eastern time. On September 8, 1980, at Carson's request, the show cut its 90-minute format to 60 minutes; Tom Snyder's Tomorrow added a half hour to fill the vacant time. Joan Rivers became the "permanent" guest host from September 1983 until 1986. The Tonight Show returned to using rotating guest hosts, including comic George Carlin. Jay Leno then became the exclusive guest host in fall 1987. Leno joked that although other guest hosts had upped their fees, he had kept his low, assuring himself more bookings. Eventually, Monday night was for Leno, Tuesday for The Best of Carson—rebroadcasts usually dating from a year earlier but occasionally from the 1970s.
Although Carson's work schedule became more attenuated, Tonight remained so successful that his compensation from NBC continued to rise; by the mid-1970s he had become the highest-paid personality on television,earning about $4 million a year ($14,253,000 today), not including nightclub appearances and his other businesses. He refused many offers to appear in films, including title roles in The Thomas Crown Affair and Gene Wilder's role in Blazing Saddles.[6]
In recognition of his 25th anniversary on The Tonight Show, Carson received a personal Peabody Award, the Board saying he had "become an American institution, a household word, [and] the most widely quoted American"; they also said they "felt the time had come to recognize the contributions that Johnny has made to television, to humor, and to America."[15]
Comic characters[link]
File:Carnac.jpg
Carson as the character "Carnac the Magnificent", mid 1970s.[citation needed]
Carson played several continuing characters on sketches during the show, including
- Art Fern, the "Tea Time Movie" announcer, [16] whose theme song was "Hooray for Hollywood". Carson once admitted on camera that this was his favorite character, based on late-afternoon TV hosts who would deliver commercials throughout the movie. Each sketch usually featured three long commercials interrupted by silent, four-second clips from antique films. When the camera returned from each clip, Art was always caught off-guard and immediately reminded viewers that they were watching a film favorite. The movies always had unlikely casts and even less likely titles: "Slim Pickens, Patti Page, Duke Wayne, and Charlton Heston in another classic Western: 'Kiss My Saddle Horn'!" Carson originally played the fast-talking huckster in his own voice (as Honest Bernie Schlock or Ralph Willie), and finally settled on a nasal, high-pitched, smarmy drone, reminiscent of Jackie Gleason's "Reginald Van Gleason III" character. The character, now permanently known as Art Fern, wore a lavish toupee, loud jackets, and a pencil mustache. Actress Carol Wayne became famous for her 100-plus appearances (1971–1982) as Art's buxom assistant, the Matinée Lady. While Art gave his spiel, she would enter the stage behind him. Art would react to her attractive body, wincing loudly: "Ho — leeeee!" After Carol Wayne's death in 1985, Carson kept Art Fern off the air for most of the next year, and finally hired Danuta Wesley and then Teresa Ganzel to play the Matinée Lady. Carson also used these sketches to poke fun at the intricate Los Angeles interstate system, using a pointer and map to give confusing directions to shoppers, often including points where he would unfold the cardboard map to point out, via the appropriate picture, when the shopper would arrive at "the fork in the road". Another freeway routine in the same theme centered around the fictional "Slauson Cutoff". Art Fern would advise drivers to take a series of freeways until they reached the Slauson Cutoff, and would then advise them to "Get out of your car, cut off your slauson, get back in your car," often followed by peals of laughter from the audience, led by McMahon.
- Carnac the Magnificent, a turbaned psychic who could answer questions before seeing them. (This same routine had been done by Carson's predecessor, Steve Allen, as "The Answer Man". The Carnac character and routine closely resembled Ernie Kovacs' character "Mr. Question Man".ref name=EW /> Carnac had a trademark entrance in which he always turned the wrong direction when coming onto stage and then "tripped" on the step up to Carson's desk. (In one episode, technicians rigged Carson's desk to fall apart when Carnac fell into it.) These comedic missteps were an indication of Carnac's true prescient abilities. Ed McMahon would hand Carnac a series of envelopes containing questions, said to have been "sitting inside a mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnall's porch since noon today". Carnac would place each envelope against his forehead and predict the answer, such as "Gatorade". Then he would read the question: "What does an alligator get on welfare?" Some of the jokes were feeble, and McMahon used pauses after terrible puns and audience groans to make light of Carnac's lack of comic success ("Carnac must be used to quiet surroundings"), prompting Carson to return an equal insult. McMahon would always announce near the end, "I hold in my hand the last envelope," at which the audience would applaud wildly, prompting Carnac to pronounce a comedic "curse" on the audience, such as "May your sister elope with a camel!", or the most famous: "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose!"[citation needed]
- Floyd R. Turbo, American (with no pause between words). A stereotypical redneck wearing a plaid hunting coat and cap, who offered "editorial responses" to left-leaning causes or news events. Railing against women's rights in the workplace, for example, Turbo would shout: "This raises the question: kiss my Dictaphone!"
- Aunt Blabby, a cantankerous and sometimes amorous old lady, invariably being interviewed by straight man Ed McMahon about elder affairs.[16] McMahon would innocently use a common expression like "check out", only to have Aunt Blabby warn him: "Don't say 'check out' to an old person!" Aunt Blabby was an obvious copy of Jonathan Winters' most famous creation, Maude Frickert, including her black spinster dress and wig.
- El Mouldo, a mentalist, who would attempt to perform mind-reading and mind-over-matter feats, all of which failed. Often his tricks would include an attempt to bilk money from Ed McMahon or would end with him begging the audience for a dollar, or at least bus fare.
- The Maharishi, whose theme song was "Song of India". This frizzy-haired "holy man" spoke in a high-pitched, tranquil tone, greeted announcer McMahon with a flower, and answered philosophical questions.[citation needed]
Carson uncensored on satellite[link]
Even though Carson's program was based in Burbank, NBC's editing and production services for the program were located in New York, resulting in the requirement that Carson's program be transmitted from Burbank to New York. Beginning in 1976, NBC used the Satcom 2 satellite to do this, feeding the live taping (which usually took place in the early evening) directly to New York, where it would be edited prior to the normal broadcast. This live feed lasted usually from two to two-and-a-half hours a night, and was uncensored and commercial-free. During the commercial breaks the audio and picture would be left on, capturing at times risque language and other events that would certainly be edited out later going out over the feed.
At the same time, however, satellite ground stations owned by private individuals began to appear, and some managed to find the live feed. Satellite dish owners began to document their sightings in technical journals, giving viewers knowledge of things they were not meant to see. Carson and his production staff grew concerned about this, and pressured NBC into ceasing the satellite transmissions of the live taping in the early 1980s. The satellite link was replaced by microwave landline transmission until the show's editing facilities were finally moved to Burbank.[17]
Effect on popular culture[link]
Carson's show launched the careers of many performers, especially comedians.[6] Getting Carson to laugh and then to be called to the guest chair was the highest honor. Most notable among these were David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Maher, Ellen Degeneres, Tim Allen, Drew Carey, and Roseanne Barr. Carson was successor to The Ed Sullivan Show as a showcase for all kinds of talent, as well as continuing a vaudeville-style variety show.
In 1966, Carson popularized Milton Bradley's game Twister when he played it with actress Eva Gabor. Not widely known at the time, the game skyrocketed in popularity after the broadcast.[18]
Controversies and feuds[link]
Carson often made jokes at the expense of other celebrities. Some years after a high-profile feud between Carson and Wayne Newton, the latter appeared on Larry King Live, declaring that "Johnny Carson is a mean-spirited human being. And there are people that he has hurt that people will never know about. And for some reason at some point, he decided to turn that kind of negative attention toward me. And I refused to have it."[19] One veteran NBC actor, Raymond Burr, became riled over Carson's continuing fat jokes and refused to appear on "The Tonight Show".[20]
Carson reportedly loathed what appeared to represent disloyalty among friends. The comedian was displeased when former Tonight Show guest hosts John Davidson and Joan Rivers got their own talk shows. Rivers's show on the Fox Network directly competed with Carson during the 1986-1987 season and then ended. On June 24, 2009, following Ed McMahon's death, Rivers lauded McMahon on Larry King Live but said that after she got her own show Carson never spoke to her again.[21]
In December 1973, Carson joked on Tonight about an alleged shortage of toilet paper. Panic buying and hoarding ensued across the United States as consumers emptied stores,[22] causing a real shortage that lasted for weeks. Stores and toilet-paper manufacturers had to ration supplies until the panic ended.[23][24] Carson apologized in January 1974[25] for the incident, which became what The New York Times called a "classic study" of how rumors spread.[26]
Carson successfully sued a manufacturer of portable toilets who wanted to call its product "Here's Johnny".[27]
Business ventures[link]
Carson was a major investor in the ultimately failed DeLorean Motor Company.
Carson was head of a group of investors who purchased and operated two television stations. The first was KVVU-TV in Henderson, Nevada, an independent station serving Las Vegas, acquired by the Carson group in 1979. Shortly after buying the station, KVVU was rumored to acquiring an NBC affiliation as then long-time affiliate KORK-TV was in the process of being replaced by KVBC, but it never happened.[citation needed] Carson's second station, independent KNAT-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico was purchased in 1982. Unlike the Las Vegas operation, KNAT faced stiffer competition for top-quality syndicated programming. Carson sold both of his stations between 1985 and 1986, with KVVU going to Meredith Corporation and KNAT being sold to Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Carson's other business ventures included the successful Johnny Carson Apparel, Inc.[6]—his turtlenecks became a fashion trend—and a failed restaurant franchise.[28]
Retirement[link]
Carson retired from show business on May 22, 1992, at age 66, when he stepped down as host of The Tonight Show. His farewell was a major media event, often emotional for Carson, his colleagues, and the audiences, and stretched over several nights. He said the following on his 4,531st and final Tonight Show:
And so it has come to this... I, uh...am one of the lucky people in the world; I found something I always wanted to do, and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. I want to thank the gentlemen who've shared this stage with me for thirty years, Mr. Ed McMahon... Mr. Doc Severinsen... and you people watching. I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you... And I hope when I find something that I want to do, and I think you would like, and come back, that you'll be as gracious in inviting me into your homes as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night.
NBC gave the role of host to the show's then-current permanent guest host, Jay Leno. Leno and David Letterman were soon competing on separate networks.
Post-retirement appearances[link]
At the end of his final Tonight Show appearance, Carson indicated that he might, if so inspired, return with a new project, but instead chose to go into full retirement, rarely giving interviews and declining to participate in NBC's 75th anniversary celebrations. He made the occasional cameo appearance, including voicing himself on the May 13, 1993 episode of The Simpsons ("Krusty Gets Kancelled"), telephoning David Letterman on a November 1993 episode of Late Show with David Letterman, and appearing in the 1993 NBC Special Bob Hope: The First 90 Years. On May 13, 1994, Carson appeared on Late Show with David Letterman. During a week of shows from Los Angeles, Letterman was having Larry "Bud" Melman (Calvert DeForest) deliver his "Top Ten Lists" under the guise that a famous personality would be delivering the list instead. On the last show of the week, Letterman indicated that Carson would be delivering the list. Instead, DeForest delivered the list, insulted the audience (in keeping with the gag), and walked off to polite applause. Letterman then indicated that the card he was given did not have the proper list on it and asked that the "real" list be brought out. On that cue, the real Carson emerged from behind the curtain (as Letterman's band played "Johnny's Theme"), an appearance that prompted a standing ovation from the audience. Carson then requested to sit behind Letterman's desk; Letterman obliged, as the audience continued to cheer and applaud. After some moments, Carson departed from the show without having spoken to the audience. He later cited acute laryngitis as the reason for his silence. This night turned out to be Carson's last television appearance.
Letterman[link]
Just days before Carson's death, The New York Times published a story revealing that he occasionally sent jokes to Letterman.[29] Letterman would then use these jokes in the monologue of his show, which Carson got "a big kick out of" according to Worldwide Pants, Inc., Senior Vice-President Peter Lassally, who formerly produced both men's programs. He also claimed that Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his "rightful successor."[30] Letterman frequently employs some of Carson's trademark bits on his show, including "Carnac" (with band leader Paul Shaffer as Carnac), "Stump the Band," and the "Week in Review."
Personal life[link]
Despite his on-camera demeanor, Carson was very shy off-camera, avoided most large parties,[6] and was referred to as "the most private public man who ever lived".[31] Dick Cavett recalled that "I felt sorry for Johnny in that he was so socially uncomfortable. I've hardly ever met anybody who had as hard a time as he did."[10] George Axelrod said of Carson: "Socially, he doesn’t exist. The reason is that there are no television cameras in living rooms. If human beings had little-red lights in the middle of their foreheads, Carson would be the greatest conversationalist on earth."[6]
He normally refused to discuss politics, social controversies, his childhood, or private life with interviewers, and offered the following list of pre-written answers to journalists who wanted to ask him questions:[6]
- Yes, I did.
- Not a bit of truth in that rumor.
- Only twice in my life, both times on Saturday.
- I can do either, but I prefer the first.
- No. Kumquats.
- I can’t answer that question.
- Toads and tarantulas.
- Turkestan, Denmark, Chile, and the Komandorskie Islands.
- As often as possible, but I’m not very good at it yet. I need much more practice.
- It happened to some old friends of mine, and it’s a story I’ll never forget.[6]
Politics[link]
Carson opposed capital punishment, favored racial equality, and was against criminalizing extramarital sex and pornography. He avoided explicitly mentioning his views on Tonight, however, saying "I hate to be pinned down", as that would "hurt me as an entertainer, which is what I am".[6] As he explained in 1970, "In my living room I would argue for liberalization of abortion laws, divorce laws, and there are times when I would like to express a view on the air. I would love to have taken on Billy Graham. But I'm on TV five nights a week; I have nothing to gain by it and everything to lose."[32]
Marriages[link]
In 1948, Carson married Jody Wolcott.[6] The marriage was volatile, with infidelities committed by both parties, and ended in divorce in 1963.[33] Carson got a "quickie" Mexican divorce from Wolcott that year and married Joanne Copeland on August 17, 1963. After a second protracted divorce proceeding in 1972, Copeland received a settlement of nearly half a million dollars and $75,000 a year in alimony for life.[6]
At the Carson Tonight Show's 10th anniversary party on September 30, 1972, Carson announced that he and former model Joanna Holland had been secretly married that afternoon,[6] shocking his friends and associates. Carson kidded that he had married three similarly named women to avoid "having to change the monogram on the towels." On March 8, 1983, Holland filed for divorce. Under California's community property laws, she was entitled to 50% of all the assets accumulated during the marriage, even though Carson earned virtually all of the couple's income. During this period, he joked on The Tonight Show, "my producer, Freddie de Cordova, really gave me something I needed for Christmas. He gave me a gift certificate to the law offices of Jacoby & Meyers." The divorce case finally ended in 1985 with an eighty-page settlement, Holland receiving $20 million in cash and property.
On June 20, 1987, Carson married Alexis Maas. The marriage lasted until his death in 2005.
Children[link]
Carson had three sons, Charles (known as "Kit"), Cory and Richard. All three sons were from his first marriage. Richard Carson died on June 21, 1991, when his car plunged down a steep embankment along a paved service road off Highway 1 near Cayucos, California. Apparently, Richard had been taking photographs when the accident occurred. On the first Tonight Show after Ricky's death, Carson paid tribute to his son's photographic work, and showed portraits of Ricky accompanied by Stevie Ray Vaughan on blues guitar playing Riviera Paradise. In addition, the final image of the show, as well as some "More to Come" bumpers, of Carson's last show on May 22, 1992, featured a photo Richard had taken.
Charity[link]
In 1981, Carson created the John W. Carson Foundation, dedicated to supporting children, education and health services. The Foundation continues to support charitable causes.[34]
In November 2004, Carson announced a $5.3 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support the Hixson–Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Department of Theater Arts, which created the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film. Another $5 million donation was announced by the estate of Carson to the University of Nebraska following his death.[citation needed], while a $1 million donation was announced on November 4, 2011, creating the "Johnny Carson Opportunity Scholarship Fund".[35]
Carson also donated to causes in his hometown of Norfolk, including the Carson Cancer Center at Faith Regional Health Services, the Elkhorn Valley Museum, and the Johnny Carson Theater at Norfolk Senior High School.
In August 2010, the charitable foundation created by Johnny Carson reported receiving $156 million from a personal trust established by the entertainer years prior to his January 2005 death. Carson's foundation was now by far the largest of the Hollywood charities.[36]
Other notes[link]
Carson, an amateur astronomer, was close friends with astronomer Carl Sagan, who often appeared on The Tonight Show. The unique way Sagan had of saying certain words, like "billions" of galaxies, would lead Carson to ribbing his friend, saying "BILL-ions and BILL-ions". Carson was the first person to contact Sagan's wife Ann Druyan with condolences when the scientist died in 1996. He owned several telescopes, including a Questar, considered at the time a top-of-the line telescope.[37]
Carson was shown on a 1978 segment of 60 Minutes practicing at home on a drum set given to him by close friend Buddy Rich, who was the jazz musician with the most appearances on The Tonight Show. Writer Gore Vidal, another frequent Tonight Show guest and friend, writes about Carson's personality in his 2006 memoirs.[38]
In 1982, Carson was found to be driving his DeLorean while under the influence of alcohol. He pled nolo contendere to a misdemeanor charge and given three years of probation. Carson was required to attend an alcohol program for drivers and was permitted to use his car only to drive to work and back.[39]
Carson was an avid tennis player. He took lessons from Bob Trapenberg for many years. He enjoyed watching tennis at Wimbledon as often as possible. When he sold a Malibu house to John McEnroe, the escrow required McEnroe to give Johnny six tennis lessons.
Death and tributes[link]
On March 19, 1999, Carson, then 74, suffered a severe heart attack at his home in Malibu, California. Carson was sleeping when he suddenly awoke with severe chest pains. He was rushed to a hospital in nearby Santa Monica where he underwent quadruple-bypass surgery.[40]
At 6:50 AM PST on January 23, 2005, Carson died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of respiratory failure arising from emphysema.[41][42] He was 79 years old. Carson had revealed his terminal illness to the public in September 2002. Following his death, Carson's body was cremated and the ashes were given to his wife, Alexis Maas Carson. In accordance with his family's wishes, no public memorial service was held. Numerous tributes were paid to Carson upon his death, recognizing the deep and enduring affection held for him around the world, including a statement by then-President George W. Bush.[43]
The day after his death, January 24, 2005, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno paid tribute to Carson with guests Ed McMahon, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Drew Carey and k.d. lang.[44] Letterman followed suit on January 31 with former Tonight Show executive producer Peter Lassally and bandleader Doc Severinsen. At the beginning of this show, Letterman said that for thirty years no matter what was going on in the world, whether people had had a good or bad day, they wanted to end the day by being "tucked in by Johnny." Letterman also told his viewers that the monologue he had just spoken (which had been very well received by the studio audience) had consisted entirely of jokes sent to him by Carson in the last few months of his life.[45] Doc Severinsen ended the Letterman show that night by playing one of Carson's two favorite songs, "Here's That Rainy Day" (the other was "I'll Be Seeing You").
On his final Tonight Show appearance, Carson himself said that while sometimes people who work together for long stretches of time on television don't necessarily like each other, this was not the case with him and McMahon; they were good friends that would have drinks and dinner together, and the camaraderie that they had on the show could not be faked. Carson and McMahon were friends for forty-six years.[46]
The 2005 film The Aristocrats was dedicated to Carson.[47]
At the 1st Annual Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to David Letterman.
At the 2nd Annual Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to Don Rickles.
A two-hour documentary about his life, Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, aired on PBS on May 14, 2012, as part of their American Masters series. It is narrated by Kevin Spacey and features interviews with many of Carson's family, fellow comedians and proteges. [48]
References[link]
- ^ "'Bob Newhart: Unbuttoned'". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/07/20/DI2087072001819.html. [dead link]
- ^ An interview with David Letterman (TV-series). Charlie Rose, WNET. 1996-02-26. http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/6364. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- ^ Johnny Carson. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 30, 2009.
- ^ "Interview :David Letterman He's No Johnny Carson". Time. February 6, 1989. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,956906,00.html.
- ^ "Jimmy Fallon". AskMen. 1974-09-09. http://www.askmen.com/celebs/men/entertainment_60/88_jimmy_fallon.html. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Tynan, Kenneth (1978-02-20). "Fifteen Years of the Salto Mortale". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1978/02/20/1978_02_20_047_TNY_CARDS_000326477?printable=true. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
- ^ "Careers Johnny Carson". Military.com. http://www.military.com/Careers/Content1?file=trans_johnny_carson.htm&area=Content. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ "Timeline". Millsaps College. http://www.millsaps.edu/about_millsaps/timeline.php. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
- ^ "Johnny Carson Amateur Boxing Record". Boxing-Scoop.com. http://www.boxing-scoop.com/show_boxer.php?boxer_ID=12192. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ^ a b c d e "Late Night". Pioneers of Television, 9 January 2008.
- ^ The Official Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
- ^ "Jack Gives Johnny Carson Advice (1955)". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUd1-_91YTk. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ The Johnny Carson Show at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ James, Meg; Gold, Matea (October 11, 2007). "NBC socks it to Burbank". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/11/business/fi-nbc11. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
- ^ "Johnny Carson Personal Award". Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. 1985. http://www.peabody.uga.edu/winners/details.php?id=307. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ a b Hibberd, James. "'Johnny Carson: King of Late Night' airing tonight: Overrated royalty? A review | Ken Tucker's TV | EW.com". Watching-tv.ew.com. http://watching-tv.ew.com/2012/05/14/johnny-carson-pbs-tonight-show-king-of-late-night/. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- ^ Cooper, Jr., Robert B. (2006). Television's Pirates: Hiding Behind Your Picture Tube.
- ^ "Menace to Morals: Twister." Minnesota Monthly, January 2011, 70.
- ^ "Wayne Newton on Larry King Live". CNN. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0711/29/lkl.01.html. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
- ^ Michael S. Starr, "Hiding in Plain Sight", 184.
- ^ 219520.html|date=2009-06-23
- ^ Buchsbaum, Susan (1986-10-21). "On a roll: Unraveling the truth about toilet paper". Boston Phoenix: p. 6. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X20tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tooFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3182%2C1867682. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
- ^ Huntley, Helen (1973-12-27). "Toilet Paper Shortage Hits Suncoast Shoppers". St. Petersburg Times: pp. 2-B. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VepRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=J3MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1485%2C752674. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
- ^ "Firm Allocates Toilet Paper". Milwaukee Journal. Washington Post Service: pp. Accent 2. 1974-01-14. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fR8qAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3igEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4987%2C2267952. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
- ^ "Toilet Tissue Shortage: Real or Contrived?". St. Petersburg Times: pp. 25-A. 1974-01-18. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5-pRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L3MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7268%2C1823113. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
- ^ Malcolm, Andrew H. (1974-02-03). "The 'Shortage' of Bathroom Tissue: A Classic Study in Rumor". The New York Times: p. 29.
- ^ Carson v. Here's Johnny Portable Toilets, Inc., 810 F.2d 104, 105 (6th Cir. 1987)
- ^ Bernstein, Adam (2005-01-24). "For Decades, Comic Ruled Late-Night TV". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30475-2005Jan23.
- ^ "Carson Feeds Letterman Lines". The New York Times. http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/781543221.html?dids=781543221:781543221&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+20%2C+2005&author=Post+Wire+Services&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=102&desc=CARSON+FEEDS+LETTERMAN+LINES. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
- ^ "Carson Feeds Letterman Lines". The New York Post. http://pqarchiver.nypost.com/nypost/access/781543221.html?dids=781543221:781543221&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+20%2C+2005&author=Post+Wire+Services&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=102&desc=CARSON+FEEDS+LETTERMAN+LINES. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
- ^ Reader's Digest September 2005, p. 178; Book Bonus: Ed McMahon Here's Johnny, Berkley Trade, 2006 ISBN 978-0-425-21229-5
- ^ Barthel, Joan (23 January). "Here's Johnny! Out There". Life: 52. http://books.google.com/books?id=gVAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA52&dq=In%20my%20living%20room%20I%20would%20argue%20for%20liberalization%20of%20abortion%20laws%2C%20divorce%20laws%2C%20and%20there&pg=PA52#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
- ^ Pleading Poverty and Demanding Money, Johnny Carson's First Wife Tells the Sad Secrets of Her Troubled Marriage By Michelle Green, Sue Carswell, Eleanor Hoover May 7, 1990 Vol. 33 No. 18 People Magazine
- ^ "Making a World of Difference". Children's Hospital Los Angeles. November 2008. http://www.childrenshospitalla.org/atf/cf/%7B1cb444df-77c3-4d94-82fa-e366d7d6ce04%7D/CAMPAIGNNEWS%20FALL%2008.PDF. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
- ^ "Carson Foundation donates $1M for UNL scholarships". Lincoln Journal Star. November 2011. http://journalstar.com/news/local/education/article_2c55ad55-be37-5123-8f6a-3cfea3655945.html.
- ^ Time Waster. "Carnac The Munificent". The Smoking Gun. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/carnac-munificent. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ Questar, Company Seven Astro-Optics Division
- ^ Gore Vidal, Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir, New York: Doubleday, 2006.
- ^ Wilson, Jeff (October 13, 1982). "Johnny Carson's Driving Restricted". UPI. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NcRTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=54cDAAAAIBAJ&dq=johnny%20carson%20driving%20alcohol%20delorean&pg=5801%2C1144493. Retrieved 2011-04-06.
- ^ Biography for Johnny Carson from Internet Movie Database
- ^ Longtime host of ‘Tonight Show’ dies at 79 Associated Press, February 8, 2005
- ^ Net mourns death of Johnny Carson Jeff Pelline CNET News February 8, 2005
- ^ Quotations on Johnny Carson's Death Associated Press January 23, 2005
- ^ Tribute To Johnny Carson Friends Return To Stage Where They And Johnny Carson Made TV Magic By Chris Hawke CBS News Burbank, Calif. January 25, 2005
- ^ "Letterman Pays Special Tribute to Carson". Associated Press. February 1, 2005. http://www.redorbit.com/news/general/123709/letterman_pays_special_tribute_to_carson/.
- ^ Drury, Jack (2008). Lauderdale: Playground of the Stars. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 0-7385-5351-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=OzkV0UxzRRgC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ "The Aristocrats Synopsis". HBO. http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/aristocrats/synopsis.html. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
- ^ Lloyd, Robert (2012-05-12). "'Johnny Carson: King of Late Night' goes behind throne: Review". latimes.com. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-johnny-carson-20120510,0,1177468.story. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
Further reading[link]
Accounts on work and life[link]
- Bart, Peter (1992-05-18). We Hardly Knew Ye.. Los Angeles: Variety.
- Corkery, Paul (August 1987). Carson: The Unauthorized Biography. Randt & Co. ISBN 0-942101-00-6.
- Cox, Stephen (2002-08-15). Here's Johnny: Thirty Years of Americas Favorite Late Night Entertainer. Cumberland House Publishing. ISBN 1-58182-265-0.
- De Cordova, Fred (1988-03-15). Johnny Came Lately. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-55849-8.
- Hise, James Van (1992). 40 Years at Night: the Story of the Tonight Show. Movie Publisher Services. ISBN 1-55698-308-5.
- Knutzen, Erik (1992-05-21). Celebs Say Thanks, Johnny.. Herald.
- Leamer, Laurence (2005-03-29). King of the Night: The Life of Johnny Carson. Avon. ISBN 0-06-084099-4.
- McMahon, Ed (2005-10-18). Here's Johnny!: My Memories of Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, and 46 Years of Friendship. Thomas Nelson. ISBN 1-4016-0236-3.
- Smith, Ronald L. (October 1987). Johnny Carson: An Unauthorized Biography. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-01051-6.
- Zoglin, Richard (1992-03-16). And What A Reign It Was: In His 30 Years, Carson Was The Best. Time.
- Sweeney, Don (2005). Backstage at the Tonight Show, from Johnny Carson to Jay Leno. Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58979-303-3.
Humor material collections[link]
- Carson, Johnny (1965). Happiness is a Dry Martini. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 1-199-39735-0
- Carson, Johnny (1967). Misery is a blind date. Doubleday and Company. ASIN: B002J1EG3A
- Johnny Carson Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
External links[link]
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Johnny Carson |
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Johnny Carson |
- Johnny Carson at the Internet Movie Database
- Johnny Carson at the Internet Broadway Database
- Johnny Carson at Find a Grave
- Official website for The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
- "Article on Johnny Carson". Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20071013161038/http://dir.salon.com/people/bc/2001/02/20/carson/index.html. at Salon
- "On Carson's contribution to Late Night". Archived from the original on 2007-10-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20071014103641/http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=online&s=siegel012405. at The New Republic
- Tynan, Kenneth. 1978 profile, The New Yorker
- The Johnny Carson Show, USA Today
- Martin, Steve. Posthumous Letter to Carson, The New York Times
- Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- Watch on line either clips from or entire program Johnny Carson King of Late Night - Watch The Full Documentary pbs.org Includes a page on the making of the documentary.
Obituaries[link]
- Obituary at CNN
- Obituary at MSNBC
- Wolcott, James. Obituary, Vanity Fair
- Severo, Richard; Carter, Bill (January 24, 2005). "Johnny Carson, Low-Key King of Late-Night TV, Dies at 79". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/24/arts/television/24john.html?ex=1264309200&en=6f658f88eb80aabd&ei=5090. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
- "A Good Friend Has Left Us". James Randi Educational Foundation. http://www.randi.org/jr/carson.html. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jack Paar |
Host of The Tonight Show October 1, 1962 – May 22, 1992 |
Succeeded by Jay Leno |
| Preceded by Bob Hope |
Host of the Academy Awards 1979–82 |
Succeeded by Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor and Walter Matthau |
| Preceded by Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor and Walter Matthau |
Host of the Academy Awards 1984 |
Succeeded by Jack Lemmon |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Carson, Johnny |
| Alternative names | Carson, John William |
| Short description | Talk show host |
| Date of birth | October 23, 1925 |
| Place of birth | Corning, Iowa |
| Date of death | January 23, 2005 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles, California |
http://wn.com/Johnny_Carson
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Carson
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Judy Garland | |
|---|---|
 c. 1940 |
|
| Born | Frances Ethel Gumm (1922-06-10)June 10, 1922 Grand Rapids, Minnesota |
| Died | June 22, 1969(1969-06-22) (aged 47) Chelsea, London, England |
| Cause of death | Barbiturate overdose |
| Resting place | Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Judy Garland |
| Occupation | Singer, actress, vaudevillian |
| Years active | 1924-1969 as a singer 1929-1967 as an actress |
| Spouse | David Rose (m. 1941-1944; divorced) Vincente Minnelli (m. 1945-1951; divorced) Sidney Luft (m. 1952-1965; divorced) Mark Herron (m. 1965-1967; divorced) Mickey Deans (m. 1969, her death) |
| Children |
|
| Awards | List of awards and honours |
Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American actress, singer and vaudevillian. Renowned for her contralto voice, she attained international stardom through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage.[1] Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the remake of A Star is Born and for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1961 film, Judgment at Nuremberg. At 39 years of age, she remains the youngest recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry.
After appearing in vaudeville with her two older sisters, Garland was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney and the 1939 film with which she would be most identified, The Wizard of Oz. After 15 years, she was released from the studio but gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a return to acting beginning with critically acclaimed performances.
Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. She was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce. She had a long struggle with alcohol and drug use during most of her career, dying of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, and Joey Luft.
In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American cinema.[2]
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Early life[link]
Born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Garland was the youngest child of Ethel Marion (née Milne; November 17, 1893–January 5, 1953) and Francis Avent "Frank" Gumm (March 20, 1886–November 17, 1935). Her parents were vaudevillians who settled in Grand Rapids to run a movie theatre that featured vaudeville acts.
Garland's ancestry on both sides of her family can be traced back to the early colonial days of the United States. Her father was descended from the Marable family of Virginia, her grandfather from a Milne ancestry from Aberdeen, Scotland[3] and her maternal grandmother from a Patrick Fitzpatrick, who emigrated to America in the 1770s from Smithtown, County Meath, Ireland.[4]
Named after both her parents and baptized at a local Episcopal church, "Baby" (as she was called by her parents and sisters) shared her family's flair for song and dance. Her first appearance came at the age of two-and-a-half when she joined her two older sisters, Mary Jane "Suzy/Suzanne" Gumm (1915–1964) and Dorothy Virginia "Jimmie" Gumm (1917–1977), on the stage of her father's movie theater during a Christmas show and sang a chorus of "Jingle Bells".[5] Accompanied by their mother on piano, The Gumm Sisters performed there for the next few years.
Following rumors that Frank Gumm had made sexual advances toward male ushers, the family relocated to Lancaster, California in June 1926.[6] Frank purchased and operated another theater in Lancaster, and Ethel, acting as their manager, began working to get her daughters into motion pictures.
Early career[link]
The Gumm Sisters[link]
In 1928, The Gumm Sisters enrolled in a dance school run by Ethel Meglin, proprietress of the Meglin Kiddies dance troupe. They appeared with the troupe at its annual Christmas show.[7] It was through the Meglin Kiddies that they made their film debut, in a 1929 short subject called The Big Revue. This was followed by appearances in two Vitaphone shorts the following year, A Holiday in Storyland (featuring Garland's first on-screen solo) and The Wedding of Jack and Jill. They next appeared together in Bubbles. Their final on-screen appearance came in 1935, in another short entitled La Fiesta de Santa Barbara.[8]
In 1934, the trio, who by then had been touring the vaudeville circuit as "The Gumm Sisters" for many years, performed in Chicago at the Oriental Theater with George Jessel. He encouraged the group to choose a more appealing name after "Gumm" was met with laughter from the audience. According to theatrical legend, their act was once erroneously billed at a Chicago theater as "The Glum Sisters".[9]
Several stories persist regarding the origin of the name "Garland". One is that it was originated by Jessel after Carole Lombard's character Lily Garland in the film Twentieth Century which was then playing at the Oriental; another is that the girls chose the surname after drama critic Robert Garland.[10] Garland's daughter, Lorna Luft, stated that her mother selected the name when Jessel announced that the trio "looked prettier than a garland of flowers".[11] Another variation surfaced when he was a guest on Garland's television show in 1963. He claimed that he had sent actress Judith Anderson a telegram containing the word "garland," and it stuck in his mind.[12]
By late 1934 the Gumm Sisters had changed their name to the Garland Sisters.[13] Frances changed her name to "Judy" soon after, inspired by a popular Hoagy Carmichael song.[14] By August 1935 they were broken up when Suzanne Garland flew to Reno, Nevada and married musician Lee Kahn, a member of the Jimmy Davis orchestra playing at Cal-Neva Lodge, Lake Tahoe.[15]
Signed at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer[link]
In 1935, Garland was signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, supposedly without a screen test, though she had made a test for the studio several months earlier. It did not know what to do with her, as at age 13 she was older than the traditional child star but too young for adult roles. Her physical appearance created a dilemma for MGM. At only 4 feet 11.5 inches (151.1 cm), her "nice" or "girl next door" looks did not exemplify the more glamorous persona required of leading ladies of the time. She was self-conscious and anxious about her appearance. "'Judy went to school at Metro with Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, real beauties,' said Charles Walters, who directed her in a number of films. 'Judy was the big money-maker at the time, a big success, but she was the ugly duckling ...I think it had a very damaging effect on her emotionally for a long time. I think it lasted forever, really.'"[16] Her insecurity was exacerbated by the attitude of studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who referred to her as his "little hunchback".[17] During her early years at the studio, she was photographed and dressed in plain garments or frilly juvenile gowns and costumes to match the "girl next door" image that was created for her. She was made to wear removable caps on her teeth and rubberized disks to reshape her nose.[18]
She performed at various studio functions and was eventually cast opposite Deanna Durbin in the musical short Every Sunday. The film contrasted her alto vocal range[19] and swing style with Durbin's operatic soprano and served as an extended screen test for the pair, as studio executives were questioning the wisdom of having two girl singers on the roster.[20] Mayer finally decided to keep both actresses, but by that time Durbin's option had lapsed and she was signed by Universal Studios.
On November 16, 1935, in the midst of preparing for a radio performance on the Shell Chateau Hour, Garland learned that her father, who had been hospitalized with meningitis, had taken a turn for the worse. Frank Gumm died the following morning, on November 17, leaving her devastated. Her song for the Shell Chateau Hour was her first professional rendition of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", a song which would become a standard in many of her concerts.[21]
Garland next came to the attention of studio executives by singing a special arrangement of "You Made Me Love You" to Clark Gable at a birthday party held by the studio for the actor; her rendition was so well regarded that she performed the song in the all-star extravaganza Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), singing to a photograph of him.[22]
MGM hit on a winning formula when it paired Garland with Mickey Rooney in a string of "backyard musicals".[23] The duo first appeared together in the 1937 B movie Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. They became a sensation and teamed up again in Love Finds Andy Hardy. She would eventually star with him in nine films.
To keep up with the frantic pace of making one film after another, Garland, Rooney, and other young performers were constantly given amphetamines, as well as barbiturates to take before going to bed.[24] For Garland, this regular dose of drugs led to addiction and a lifelong struggle and contributed to her eventual demise. She later resented the hectic schedule and felt that her youth had been stolen from her by MGM. Despite successful film and recording careers, awards, critical praise and her ability to fill concert halls worldwide, she was plagued throughout her life with self-doubt and required constant reassurance that she was talented and attractive.[25]
[edit] The Wizard of Oz
In 1938, aged 16, she was cast as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939), a film based on the children's book by L. Frank Baum. In this film, she sang the song for which she would forever be identified, "Over the Rainbow". She was initially outfitted in a blonde wig for the part, but Freed and LeRoy decided against it shortly into filming. Her blue gingham dress was chosen for its blurring effect on her figure.[26]
Shooting commenced on October 13, 1938,[27] and was completed on March 16, 1939,[28] with a final cost of more than US$2 million.[29] With the conclusion of filming, MGM kept Garland busy with promotional tours and the shooting of Babes in Arms. She and Rooney were sent on a cross-country promotional tour, culminating in the August 17 New York City premiere at the Capitol Theater, which included a five-show-a-day appearance schedule for the two stars.[30]
The Wizard of Oz was a tremendous critical success, though its high budget and promotions costs of an estimated $4 million coupled with the lower revenue generated by children's tickets meant that the film did not make a profit until it was re-released in the 1940s.[31] At the 1940 Academy Awards ceremony, Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award for her performances in 1939, including The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms.[32] Following this recognition, she became one of MGM's most bankable stars.
Stardom as an adult[link]
In 1940, she starred in three films: Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, Strike Up the Band, and Little Nellie Kelly. In the latter, she played her first adult role, a dual role of both mother and daughter. Little Nellie Kelly was purchased from George M. Cohan as a vehicle for her to display both her audience appeal and her physical appearance. The role was a challenge for her, requiring the use of an accent, her first adult kiss, and the only death scene of her career.[33] The success of these three films, and a further three films in 1941, secured her position at MGM as a major property.
During this time Garland experienced her first serious adult romances. The first was with the band leader Artie Shaw. She was deeply devoted to him and was devastated in early 1940 when he eloped with Lana Turner.[34] Garland began a relationship with musician David Rose, and, on her 18th birthday, he gave her an engagement ring. The studio intervened because he was still married at the time to the actress and singer Martha Raye. They agreed to wait a year to allow for his divorce from her to become final, and were wed on July 27, 1941.[35] Garland, who had aborted her pregnancy by him in 1942, agreed to a trial separation in January 1943, and they divorced in 1944.[36] She was noticeably thinner in her next film, For Me and My Gal, alongside Gene Kelly in his first screen appearance. She was top billed over the credits for the first time and effectively made the transition from teenage star to adult actress.
At the age of 21, she was given the "glamour treatment" in Presenting Lily Mars, in which she was dressed in "grown-up" gowns. Her lightened hair was also pulled up in a stylish fashion. However, no matter how glamorous or beautiful she appeared on screen or in photographs, she was never confident in her appearance and never escaped the "girl next door" image that had been created for her.[37]
One of Garland's most successful films for MGM was Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), in which she introduced three standards: "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Vincente Minnelli was assigned to direct and he requested that makeup artist Dorothy Ponedel be assigned to Garland. Ponedel refined her appearance in several ways, including extending and reshaping her eyebrows, changing her hairline, modifying her lip line and removing her nose discs. She appreciated the results so much that Ponedel was written into her contract for all her remaining pictures at MGM.
During the filming of Meet Me in St. Louis, after some initial conflict between them, Garland and Minnelli entered a relationship. They were married June 15, 1945,[38] and on March 12, 1946, daughter Liza was born.[39] In 1951, they divorced.[40]
The Clock (1945) was her first straight dramatic film, opposite Robert Walker. Though the film was critically praised and earned a profit, most movie fans expected her to sing. It would be many years before she acted again in a non-singing dramatic role. Garland's other famous films of the 1940s include The Harvey Girls (1946), in which she introduced the Academy Award-winning song "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", and The Pirate (1948).
Leaving Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer[link]
During filming for The Pirate in April 1947, Garland suffered a nervous breakdown and was placed in a private sanitarium.[41] She was able to complete filming, but in July she undertook her first suicide attempt, making minor cuts to her wrist with a broken glass.[42] During this period, she spent two weeks in treatment at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital in Stockbridge, Massachusetts[43] Following her work on The Pirate, she completed three more films for MGM: Easter Parade (in which she danced with Fred Astaire), In the Good Old Summertime, and her final film with MGM, Summer Stock.
Because of her mental condition, Garland was unable to complete a series of films. During the filming of The Barkleys of Broadway, she was taking prescription sleeping medication along with illicitly obtained pills containing morphine. It was around this time she also developed a serious problem with alcohol. These, in combination with migraine headaches, led her to miss several shooting days in a row. After being advised by her doctor that she would only be able to work in four-to-five-day increments with extended rest periods between, MGM executive Arthur Freed made the decision to suspend her on July 18, 1948. She was replaced by Ginger Rogers.[44]
Garland was cast in the film adaptation of Annie Get Your Gun in the title role of Annie Oakley. She was nervous at the prospect of taking on a role strongly identified with Ethel Merman, anxious about appearing in an unglamorous part after breaking from juvenile parts for several years and disturbed by her treatment at the hands of director Busby Berkeley. She began arriving late to the set and sometimes failed to appear. She was suspended from the picture on May 10, 1949, and was replaced by Betty Hutton.[45]
Garland was next cast in the film Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire after June Allyson became pregnant in 1950. She again failed to report to the set on multiple occasions and the studio suspended her contract on June 17, 1950. She was replaced by Jane Powell.[46] Reputable biographies following her death stated that after this latest dismissal, she slightly grazed her neck with a broken water glass, requiring only a Band-Aid, but at the time, the public was informed that a despondent Garland had slashed her throat.[47] "All I could see ahead was more confusion," Garland later said of this suicide attempt. "I wanted to black out the future as well as the past. I wanted to hurt myself and everyone who had hurt me."[48]
Later career[link]
Renewed stardom on the stage[link]
In October 1951, Garland opened in a vaudeville-style, two-a-day engagement at Broadway's newly refurbished Palace Theatre. Her 19-week engagement exceeded all previous records for the theater, and was described as "one of the greatest personal triumphs in show business history".[49] Garland was honored for her contribution to the revival of vaudeville with a Special Tony Award.[50]
In May 1952, at the height of Garland's comeback, her mother Ethel was featured in a Los Angeles Mirror story in which she revealed that while Garland was making a small fortune at the Palace, Ethel was working a desk job at Douglas Aircraft Company for $61 a week.[51] They had been estranged for years, with Garland characterizing her mother as "no good for anything except to create chaos and fear" and accusing her of mismanaging and misappropriating her salary from the earliest days of her career.[52] Garland's sister Virginia denied this, stating "Mama never took a dime from Judy."[53] On January 5, 1953, Ethel Gumm was found dead in the Douglas Aircraft parking lot. She was 59 years old.[54]
[edit] A Star Is Born
In 1954, Garland filmed a musical remake of the 1937 film A Star is Born for Warner Bros. She and her third husband, Sid Luft (whom she had married in 1952) produced the film through their production company, Transcona Enterprises, while Warner Bros. supplied the funds, production facilities, and crew.[55] Directed by George Cukor and costarring James Mason, it was a large undertaking to which she initially fully dedicated herself.
As shooting progressed, however, she began making the same pleas of illness which she had so often made during her final films at MGM. Production delays led to cost overruns and angry confrontations with Warner Bros. head Jack Warner. Principal photography wrapped on March 17, 1954. At Luft's suggestion, the "Born in a Trunk" medley was filmed as a showcase for her and inserted over director Cukor's objections, who feared the additional length would lead to cuts in other areas. It was completed on July 29.[56]
Upon its September 29, 1954 world premiere, the film was met with tremendous critical and popular acclaim. Before release, it was edited at the instruction of Jack Warner; theater operators, concerned that they were losing money because they were only able to run the film for three or four shows per day instead of five or six, pressured the studio to make additional reductions. About 30 minutes of footage was cut, sparking outrage among critics and filmgoers. A Star is Born ended up losing money, and the secure financial position Garland had expected from the profits did not materialize.[57] Transcona made no more films with Warner.[58]
Garland was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and, in the run-up to the 27th Academy Awards, was generally expected to win. She could not attend the ceremony because she had just given birth to her son, Joseph Luft, so a television crew was in her hospital room with cameras and wires to televise her anticipated acceptance speech. The Oscar was won, however, by Grace Kelly for The Country Girl (1954). The camera crew was packing up before Kelly could even reach the stage. Groucho Marx sent her a telegram after the awards ceremony, declaring her loss "the biggest robbery since Brinks". TIME magazine labeled her performance as "just about the greatest one-woman show in modern movie history".[59] Garland won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the role.[60]
Garland's films after A Star Is Born included Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) (for which she was Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated for Best Supporting Actress), the animated feature Gay Purr-ee (1962), and A Child Is Waiting (1963) with Burt Lancaster. Her final film was I Could Go On Singing (1963), costarring Dirk Bogarde.
Television, concerts, and Carnegie Hall[link]
Garland engaged Sid Luft as her manager the same year she divorced Minnelli.[61] He arranged a four-month concert tour of the United Kingdom, where she played to sold-out audiences throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland.[62] It included her first appearances at the renowned London Palladium, for a four-week stand in April.[63] Although some in the British press chided her before her opening for being "too plump",[64] she received rave reviews and the ovation was described by the Palladium manager as the loudest he had ever heard.[65]
Garland and Luft were married on June 8, 1952, in Hollister, California.[66] Garland gave birth to Lorna Luft, herself a future actress and singer, on November 21, 1952, and to Joey Luft on March 29, 1955.[67]
Beginning in 1955, Garland appeared in a number of television specials. The first, the 1955 debut episode of Ford Star Jubilee, was the first full-scale color broadcast ever on CBS and was a ratings triumph, scoring a 34.8 Nielsen rating. She signed a three-year, $300,000 contract with the network. Only one additional special, a live concert edition of General Electric Theater, was broadcast in 1956 before the relationship between the Lufts and CBS broke down in a dispute over the planned format of upcoming specials.[68] In 1956, Garland performed four weeks at the New Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip for a salary of $55,000 per week, making her the highest-paid entertainer to work in Las Vegas.[69] Despite a brief bout of laryngitis, her performances there were so successful that her run was extended an extra week.[70] Later that year she returned to the Palace Theatre, site of her two-a-day triumph. She opened in September, once again to rave reviews and popular acclaim.[71]
In November 1959 Garland was hospitalized, diagnosed with acute hepatitis.[72] Over the next few weeks several quarts of fluid were drained from her body until, still weak, she was released from the hospital in January 1960. She was told by doctors that she likely had five years or less to live, and that even if she did survive she would be a semi-invalid and would never sing again.[73] She initially felt "greatly relieved" at the diagnosis. "The pressure was off me for the first time in my life."[47] However, she recovered over the next several months and, in August of that year, returned to the stage of the Palladium. She felt so warmly embraced by the British that she announced her intention to move permanently to England.[74]
Her concert appearance at Carnegie Hall on April 23, 1961, was a considerable highlight, called by many "the greatest night in show business history".[75] The two-record Judy at Carnegie Hall was certified gold, charting for 95 weeks on Billboard, including 13 weeks at number one. The album won four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal of the Year.[76] The album has never been out of print.
In 1961, Garland and CBS settled their contract disputes with the help of her new agent, Freddie Fields, and negotiated a new round of specials. The first, entitled The Judy Garland Show, aired in 1962 and featured guests Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.[77] Following this success, CBS made a $24 million offer to her for a weekly television series of her own, also to be called The Judy Garland Show, which was deemed at the time in the press to be "the biggest talent deal in TV history". Although she had said as early as 1955 that she would never do a weekly television series,[78] in the early 1960s she was in a financially precarious situation. She was several hundred thousand dollars in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, having failed to pay taxes in 1951 and 1952, and the failure of A Star is Born meant that she received nothing from that investment.[79] A successful run on television was intended to secure her financial future.
Following a third special, Judy Garland and Her Guests Phil Silvers and Robert Goulet, Garland's weekly series debuted September 29, 1963.[80] The Judy Garland Show was critically praised,[81][82] but for a variety of reasons (including being placed in the time slot opposite Bonanza on NBC) the show lasted only one season and was canceled in 1964 after 26 episodes. Despite its short run, the series was nominated for four Emmy Awards.[83] The demise of the series was personally and financially devastating for Garland.
Garland sued Luft for divorce in 1963, claiming "cruelty" as the grounds. She also asserted that he had repeatedly struck her while he was drinking and that he had attempted to take their children from her by force.[84] She had filed for divorce from Luft more than once previously, including as early as 1956, but had reconciled.[85]
Final years[link]
With the demise of her television series, Garland returned to the stage. Most notably, she performed at the London Palladium with her then 18-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli in November 1964. The concert, which was also filmed for British television network ITV, was one of her final appearances at the venue. She made guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Hollywood Palace, and The Merv Griffin Show, on which she guest-hosted an episode.[86]
Garland was a lifelong Democrat and was active in both the Hollywood Democratic Committee and attended many of the Democratic National Conventions. In 1960 she was in attendance at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles with John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, and Lyndon B. Johnson.[87][88][89]
A 1964 tour of Australia was largely disastrous. Garland's first concert in Sydney, held in the Sydney Stadium because no concert hall could accommodate the crowds who wanted to see her, went well and received positive reviews. Her second performance, in Melbourne, started an hour late. The crowd of 7,000, angered by her tardiness and believing her to be drunk, booed and heckled her, and she fled the stage after just 45 minutes.[90] She later characterized the Melbourne crowd as "brutish".[52] A second concert in Sydney was uneventful but the Melbourne appearance garnered her significant bad press.[91] Some of that bad press was deflected by the announcement of a near fatal episode of pleurisy.
Garland's tour promoter Mark Herron announced that they had married aboard a freighter off the coast of Hong Kong; however, she was not legally divorced from Luft at the time the ceremony was performed.[92] It became final on May 19, 1965,[84] but she and Herron did not legally marry until November 14, 1965 and then separated six months later.[93]
In February 1967, Garland was cast as Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls for 20th Century Fox.[94] During the filming, she missed rehearsals and was fired in April, replaced by Susan Hayward.[95] Her prerecording of the song "I'll Plant My Own Tree" survived, along with her wardrobe tests.
Returning to the stage, Garland made her last appearances at New York's Palace Theatre in July, a 16-show tour, performing with her children Lorna and Joey Luft. She wore a sequined pantsuit on stage for this tour, which was part of the original wardrobe for her character in Valley of the Dolls.[96]
By early 1969, Garland's health had deteriorated. She performed in London at the Talk of the Town nightclub for a five-week run[97] and made her last concert appearance in Copenhagen during March 1969.[98] She married her fifth and final husband, musician Mickey Deans, at Chelsea Register Office, London, on March 15, 1969,[99] her divorce from Herron having been finalized on February 11.[100]
Death[link]
On June 22, 1969, Garland was found dead by Deans in the bathroom of their rented house in Chelsea, London. At the subsequent inquest, coroner Gavin Thursdon stated that the cause of death was "an incautious self-overdosage" of barbiturates; her blood contained the equivalent of ten 1.5-grain (97 mg) Seconal capsules.[101] Thursdon stressed that the overdose had been unintentional and that there was no evidence to suggest she had committed suicide. Her autopsy showed that there was no inflammation of her stomach lining and no drug residue there, which indicated that the drug had been ingested over a long period of time, rather than in one dose. Her death certificate stated that her death had been "accidental".[102] Even so, a British specialist who had attended her said she had been living on borrowed time due to cirrhosis of the liver.[103] She had turned 47 just twelve days prior to her death. Her Wizard of Oz costar Ray Bolger commented at her funeral, "She just plain wore out."
On June 26, Deans took Garland's remains to New York City, where an estimated 20,000 people lined up for hours at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan to pay their respects. On June 27, James Mason gave a eulogy at the funeral, an Episcopal service led by the Rev. Peter A. Delaney of Marylebone Church, London, who had officiated at her marriage to Deans.[104] The public and press were barred. She was interred in a crypt in the community mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery, in Hartsdale, New York.[105]
Legacy[link]
Garland's legacy as a performer and a personality has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named her eighth among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time.[106] She has been the subject of over two dozen biographies since her death, including the well-received Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir by her daughter, Lorna Luft, whose memoir was later adapted into the television miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which won Emmy Awards for the two actresses portraying her (Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis).[107]
Garland was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.[108] Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[109] These include "Over the Rainbow", which was ranked as the number one movie song of all time in the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Songs" list. Four more Garland songs are featured on the list: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (#76), "Get Happy" (#61), "The Trolley Song" (#26), and "The Man That Got Away" (#11).[110] She has twice been honored on U.S. postage stamps, in 1989 (as Dorothy)[111] and again in 2006 (as Vicki Lester from A Star Is Born).[112]
Gay icon[link]
Main article: Judy Garland as gay icon
Garland always had a large base of fans in the gay community and has become a gay icon.[113] Reasons often given for her standing, especially among gay men, are admiration of her ability as a performer, the way her personal struggles mirrored those of gay men in America during the height of her fame and her value as a camp figure.[114] When asked about how she felt about having a large gay following, she responded, "I couldn't care less. I sing to people."[115]
Some have also suggested a connection between the date of Garland's death and funeral on June 27, 1969 and the Stonewall riots, the flashpoint of the modern Gay Liberation movement,[116][117] which started in the early hours of June 28.[116] However, in a 2009 interview gay historian David Carter stated that this connection is untrue, and based on a mocking reference to the riot by an anti-gay writer in the Village Voice the next day.[118]
Filmography and performances[link]
Main article: List of Judy Garland performances
Portrayals in fiction[link]
Main article: List of Judy Garland biographies
Garland has been portrayed on television by Andrea McArdle in Rainbow (1978), Tammy Blanchard (young Judy) and Judy Davis (older Judy) in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001) and Elizabeth Karsell in James Dean (2001). Anne Hathaway is set to play Garland in a biopic titled Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland which is in production and is set to be released in either 2012 or 2013.
On stage, Garland is a character in the musical The Boy from Oz (1998), portrayed by Chrissy Amphlett in the original Australian production and by Isabel Keating on Broadway in 2003. End of the Rainbow (2005) featured Caroline O'Connor as Garland and Michael Cumpsty as Garland's pianist. Adrienne Barbeau played Garland in The Property Known as Garland (2006) and The Judy Monologues (2010) featured Kimberly Roberts as Garland. Garland was briefly mentioned in the biopic film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge for the 1954 Academy Awards for A Star Is Born.
Discography[link]
Main article: Judy Garland discography
Awards[link]
Main article: List of awards and honors received by Judy Garland
Notes[link]
- ^ Louis Bayard, "Supernova", Washington Post, April 16, 2000, p. X9
- ^ http://www.afi.com/100Years/stars.aspx
- ^ as she told an audience on May 29, 1951 in Edinburgh
- ^ McClure, Rhonda (June 13, 2002). "Ancestry of Liza Minnelli". Genealogy.com. http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/liza-minnelli. Retrieved December 22, 2007.
- ^ Shipman p. 12
- ^ Clarke, p. 23
- ^ Clarke, pp. 29–30
- ^ Finch pp. 43–47, 76
- ^ Judy Garland, 47, Found Dead, The New York Times, June 23, 1969
- ^ "Judy: Beyond the Rainbow". Biography. January 1, 1999.
- ^ Luft, p. 26
- ^ "Episode 12". The Judy Garland Show. episode 12. season 1. November 1, 1963.
- ^ "Program of Comedy Due --- Eddie Conrad Will Head Ebell Vaudeville." Los Angeles Times. December 7, 1934. p. 15.
- ^ Edwards p. 27
- ^ "Nuptials Turn Trio to Duet --- Cupid Robs Radio Team --- Suzanne Garland Flies to Reno to Become Bride of Musician." Los Angeles Times. August 15, 1935. p. A3.
- ^ "Judy: Impressions of Garland". Omnibus. 1972. http://imdb.com/title/tt0813809.
- ^ Wayne, p. 204
- ^ Frank p. 73
- ^ "Judy Garland at the Hippodrome". Judy Garland – The Live Performances!. http://users.deltacomm.com/rainbowz/con070951.html. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ Clarke p. 73
- ^ Clarke p. 58
- ^ Edwards p. 47
- ^ "dOc DVD Review: Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection (Babes in Arms/Strike Up the Band/Babes on Broadway/Girl Crazy) (1939–1943)". Digitallyobsessed.com. April 1, 2009. http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/displaylegacy.php?ID=9718. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
- ^ "Judy Garland: By Myself". American Masters. February 25, 2004.
- ^ Clarke pp. 135–36
- ^ Finch pp. 134–35
- ^ Clarke p. 95
- ^ Clarke p. 100
- ^ Edwards p. 61
- ^ Clarke pp. 102–03
- ^ Clarke p. 104
- ^ Clarke p. 105
- ^ Juneau pp. 55–56
- ^ Frank pp. 148–49
- ^ Clarke p. 155
- ^ Clarke p. 211
- ^ Frank p 175
- ^ Hopper, Hedda (September 1954). "No More Tears for Judy". Woman's Home Companion.
- ^ Clarke p. 223
- ^ "Judy Garland Files Suit for Divorce". U.P.. February 22, 1952.
- ^ Edwards p. 108
- ^ Frank p. 231
- ^ "Judy Garland – Career Timeline | American Masters". PBS. July 7, 2004. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/judy-garland/career-timeline/601/. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
- ^ Shipman p. 225
- ^ Clarke p. 255
- ^ Frank p. 271
- ^ a b Alexander, Shana (June 2, 1961). "Judy's New Rainbow". Life.
- ^ Hyams, Joe (January 1957). "Crack-Up". Photoplay.
- ^ Garver, Jack (February 24, 1952). "Judy Garland Ends Triumphant Vaudeville Run". UPI.
- ^ "Judy Garland". American Theatre Wing. http://www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search. Retrieved December 24, 2007.
- ^ Clarke p. 311
- ^ a b Garland, Judy (August 1967). "The Plot Against Judy Garland". Ladies' Home Journal.
- ^ Shearer, Lloyd (October 4, 1964). "Judy Garland's Sister: The Happy One in the Family". Parade.
- ^ Clarke p. 309
- ^ Clarke, p. 308
- ^ Clarke p. 319
- ^ Clarke p. 325
- ^ Juneau p. 126
- ^ Clarke p. 326
- ^ "Judy Garland". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/member/29377. Retrieved December 24, 2007.
- ^ Juneau p. 108
- ^ Frank p. 304
- ^ MacPherson, Virginia (April 10, 1951). "Judy Garland in Comeback with Palladium Contract". U.P..
- ^ Gerold Frank, Judy, page 326 (De Capo Press, 1999). ISBN 0-306-80894-3
- ^ "British Give Judy Garland Big Ovation". Associated Press. April 10, 1951.
- ^ Garver, Jack (June 12, 1952). "Judy Garland Married With Simple Ceremony". U.P..
- ^ Edwards p. 166
- ^ Sanders p. 24
- ^ "Judy Garland – About Judy Garland | American Masters". PBS. July 7, 2004. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/judy-garland/about-judy-garland/600/. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
- ^ Frank pp. 420–21
- ^ "Judy Reigns in Palace as Queen of New York". UPI. October 31, 1952.
- ^ "Judy Garland Said To Have Hepatitis". UPI. November 26, 1959.
- ^ Clarke p. 347
- ^ Clarke p. 349
- ^ Cox, Gordon (May 28, 2006). "Rufus Over The Rainbow". Variety.
- ^ "Grammy Awards for Judy at Carnegie Hall". The Recording Academy. http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=&title=Judy+at+Carnegie+Hall&year=All&genre=All. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
- ^ Sanders p. 29
- ^ Parsons, Louella (September 23, 1955). "TV Spectacular Gives New Rainbow to Judy". The Daily Review.
- ^ Edwards p. 175
- ^ Sanders p. 391
- ^ Sanders pp. 108–109
- ^ Lewis, Richard Warren (December 7, 1963). "The TV Troubles of Judy Garland". The Saturday Evening Post.
- ^ "Awards for The Judy Garland Show (1963)". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. http://www.emmys.tv/awards/awardsearch.php. Retrieved December 14, 2007.
- ^ a b "Judy Wins Divorce From Sid Luft". Wisconsin State Journal. May 20, 1965.
- ^ Irwin, Elson (November 17, 1968). "Judy Garland: Femme Fatale". Stars and Stripes.
- ^ DiOrio, p. 202
- ^ "John F. Kennedy Judy Garland, LBJ and Adlai Stevenson at 1960 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHZM76keZUk. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
- ^ "Adlai Stevenson , Sammy Davis Jr., and Judy Garland at Democratic Dinner - U1238885 - Rights Managed - Stock Photo - Corbis". Corbisimages.com. 1960-07-10. http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/U1238885/adlai-stevenson-sammy-davis-jr-and-judy. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000023/bio
- ^ Edwards p. 213
- ^ "Judy Garland Locks Self in Hotel Room". Stars and Stripes (UPI). May 24, 1964.
- ^ Edwards p. 214
- ^ Frank p. 556
- ^ Seaman, pp. 292–93
- ^ Seaman, p. 343
- ^ Shipman p. 494
- ^ Clarke p. 412
- ^ DiOrio, p. 204
- ^ Steiger, p. 88
- ^ Edwards p. 275
- ^ Clarke p. 422
- ^ "Judy Garland The Live Performances. The End of the Rainbow". http://users.deltacomm.com/rainbowz/eotr.html. Retrieved February 1, 2008. citing United Press International article "Judy Took Too Many Pills", and containing a copy of Garland's death certificate.
- ^ Times Wire Services, "Judy Garland Believed Killed by Overdose", St. Petersburg Times, June 24, 1969. [1]
- ^ "End of the Rainbow". TIME. July 4, 1969. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840196-1,00.html. Retrieved December 18, 2007. Van Gelder, Lawrence (June 28, 1969). "Judy Garland's Funeral Draws Her Colleagues". The New York Times: Books. http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/04/09/specials/garland-funeral.html?_r=5. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
- ^ "Celebrities & Notables Interred at Ferncliff". Ferncliff Cemetery. http://www.ferncliffcemetery.com/about/celebrities.php. Retrieved June 20, 2011.
- ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars". American Film Institute. June 16, 1999. http://www.afi.com/100years/stars.aspx. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
- ^ Weinraub, Bernard (November 5, 2001). "Subdued Patriotism Replaces Glitter as Television Finally Presents Its Emmys". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/05/us/subdued-patriotism-replaces-glitter-as-television-finally-presents-its-emmys.html. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
- ^ "Lifetime Achievement Award". The Recording Academy. http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/lifetime-awards. Retrieved December 25, 2007.
- ^ "Grammy Hall of Fame Award". The Recording Academy. http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame. Retrieved December 25, 2007.
- ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs". American Film Institute. June 22, 2004. http://www.afi.com/100years/songs.aspx. Retrieved December 25, 2007.
- ^ Kronish, Syd (April 8, 1990). "Hollywood Film Legends Preserved on Latest Issue". The Sunday Capital (Washington, D.C.).
- ^ "The 2006 Commemorative Stamp Program" (Press release). United States Postal Service. November 30, 2005. http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2005/sr05_054.htm?from=bannercommunications&page=comstamps. Retrieved December 25, 2007.
- ^ Haggerty, George E. Gay Histories and Cultures. ISBN 0-8153-1880-4.
- ^ Murray, Raymond (1996). Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video. TLA Video Management.
- ^ "Judy Garland Biography". Activemusician.com. http://www.activemusician.com/Judy-Garland-Biography--t8i1714. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
- ^ a b Bianco, p. 194
- ^ Duberman, p. ix
- ^ "Stonewall Riots 40th Anniversary: A Look Back at the Uprising that Launched the Modern Gay Rights Movement," democracynow.org, 26 June 2009, accessed 29 Nov. 2011
References[link]
- Bianco, David. Gay Essentials: Facts For Your Queer Brain. Alyson Publications. Los Angeles, 1999. ISBN 1-55583-508-2.
- Clarke, Gerald (2001). Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland. New York, Random House. ISBN 0-375-50378-1.
- DiOrio, Jr., Al. Little Girl Lost: The Life and Hard Times of Judy Garland. Manor Books. New York, 1973.
- Duberman, Martin (1993). Stonewall. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-525-93602-5.
- Edwards, Anne. Judy Garland. Simon & Schuster. New York, 1975. ISBN 0-671-80228-3 (paperback edition).
- Finch, Christopher. Rainbow: The Stormy Life of Judy Garland. Ballantine Books. 1975. ISBN 0-345-25173-3 (paperback edition).
- Frank, Gerold. Judy. Harper & Row. New York, 1975. ISBN 0-06-011337-5.
- Juneau, James. Judy Garland: A Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies. Pyramid Publications. 1974, New York. ISBN 0-515-03482-7.
- Luft, Lorna. Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir. Simon & Schuster. New York, 1999. ISBN 0-283-06320-3.
- Sanders, Coyne Steven. Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show. Zebra Books. 1990 ISBN 0-8217-3708-2 (paperback edition).
- Seaman, Barbara. Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann. Seven Stories Press. 1996, New York. ISBN 0-9658770-6-X (1996 edition).
- Shipman, David. Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend. Hyperion. New York, 1992. ISBN 0-7868-8026-0 (paperback edition).
- Steiger, Brad (1969). Judy Garland. New York, Ace Books.
- Wayne, Jane Ellen (2003). The Golden Girls of MGM. New York, Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0-7867-1303-8.
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Judy Garland |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Judy Garland |
- Judy Garland at the Internet Movie Database
- Judy Garland at AllRovi
- Judy Garland at the TCM Movie Database
- Judy Garland at the Internet Broadway Database
- Judy Garland at TV Guide
- The Judy Room Celebrating the life and career of Judy Garland
- The Judy Garland Birthplace and Museum in Grand Rapids, MN
- The Judy Garland Club official international fan club
- Judy Garland: By Myself – American Masters special
- Judy Garland's Film "The Wizard of Oz" Film site on Judy and Oz
- Judy Garland at The Biography Channel
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ella Fitzgerald for Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife |
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance 1962 for Judy at Carnegie Hall |
Succeeded by Ella Fitzgerald for Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson |
| Preceded by Dave Brubeck, Marvin Gaye, Georg Solti, Stevie Wonder |
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award 1997 |
Succeeded by Bo Diddley, Mills Brothers, Roy Orbison, Paul Robeson |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Garland, Judy |
| Alternative names | Gumm, Frances Ethel |
| Short description | American actress, singer |
| Date of birth | June 10, 1922 |
| Place of birth | Grand Rapids, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Date of death | June 22, 1969 |
| Place of death | Chelsea, London, England, UK |
http://wn.com/Judy_Garland
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Garland
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly[1] | |
|---|---|
| Back to the Future character | |
| File:Marty 1985.JPG Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly |
|
| Portrayed by | Michael J. Fox |
| Voiced by |
|
| Appeared in | Part I, Part II, Part III, The Animated Series, The Game |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Student |
| Original time | 1985 |
| Time traveler | Yes |
| Years visited | 1885, 1955, 1985A, 2015 |
Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly, Sr. is the protagonist in the Back to the Future film trilogy, and is portrayed by actor Michael J. Fox. Marty was also the protagonist in the animated series where he was voiced by David Kaufman. In the videogame by Telltale Games, he is voiced by AJ LoCascio.[2]
Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly, but after five weeks of shooting scenes for the first film, director Robert Zemeckis and executive producer Steven Spielberg chose to re-cast the role to Fox.
Contents |
Biography[link]
Marty was born in Hill Valley, California in 1968[3] to a family of Irish descent. Little is known about Marty's life prior to the first Back to the Future film, except for the fact that he accidentally set his parents' living room rug on fire when he was 8 (which we know from a statement of Marty's to his future parents).[3]
In 1985, Marty plays lead guitar with his group The Pinheads[3] and likes listening to Huey Lewis and the News, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Van Halen. He is also a talented skateboarder and proven to be an excellent shot with a gun, honed by endlessly playing shooting games such as Wild Gunman at his local 7-Eleven.[4][5]
Although Marty is often accident prone and sometimes thought to lack critical thinking skills, he is nevertheless brave in the face of danger and can be very resourceful and clever. He has shown some good and basic street fighting skills in the movies. He often throws punches in hand-to-hand confrontations. His major character flaw is his pride, which causes him to take unnecessary risks to show others that he is not chicken, as demonstrated throughout various points throughout the trilogy.[5] However, in the third film, when his ancestor Seamus McFly points out that Seamus's brother, Martin, was killed in an argument where someone questioned his bravery, Marty began to re-think his stance on what other people thought of him. This was highlighted when Marty refused to race Needles, despite Needles goading him into a race, thus avoiding the "automobile accident" involving the Rolls Royce, therefore changing his future for the better.
Family[link]
Marty is the youngest of three children from George and Lorraine McFly. He has a brother Dave and a sister Linda. His secondary entourage consists of girlfriend Jennifer Parker and best friend Emmett Brown, a scientist whom Marty and Jennifer call "Doc." There is an impression that Marty is embarrassed by his family and does not spend much time at home, preferring to hang out with Doc, Jennifer, or the guys in his band, The Pinheads.[3]
How exactly Marty and Doc met has never been explained, although a draft script for the first film states that, in 1983, Doc turned up at Marty's garage one day and offered him $50 a week, plus free beer and use of his record collection, to clean his garage.[6] This explanation is not accepted by most fans, as it contradicts the characterizations of Marty and Doc as seen in the finished film. Writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale say they once considered expanding on their relationship, but decided against it, reasoning that children and adolescents are often drawn to eccentric or mysterious neighbors.
By 2015, Marty has married his girlfriend Jennifer and they had twins, Martin "Marty" Jr. and Marlene, who were born on April 28, 1998 (both played by Michael J. Fox).[4] However, the events at the end of Back To The Future Part III, where Marty avoided the race with Needles, may affect the outcome of events as seen in Part II.
Aliases[link]
Marty has had many false names through the Back to the Future series. Some of which include; Calvin Klein, Darth Vader of the Planet Vulcan (Back to the Future),[3] Clint Eastwood (Back to the Future Part III),[5] and Sonny Crockett/Harry Callahan/Michael Corleone (2011 video game only). Including these aliases, Marty has also posed as his son, Martin McFly Jr.[4]
[edit] Back to the Future: The Animated Series
In the animated series, Marty and Jennifer study at Hill Valley College after graduating from Hill Valley High School. Marty spends a lot of time visiting the Brown house where Doc, Clara, and their sons now live. He continues to travel through time alongside Jennifer, Doc, and the rest of the Brown family on many of their adventures, in the process learning a lot about his family's ancestry and future.
The animated series says that Marty has not completely overcome his "chicken" problem established in the films. For instance, in the episode "Roman Holiday", Bifficus Antanneny taunts Marty into a chariot race by calling him "pullus," the Latin word for "chicken."
An episode set in 2091 ("Solar Sailors") establishes that Marty's music becomes famous to Elvis-like proportions, as there are Marty impersonators mimicking his act on stage. His great-granddaughter Marta remarks, "If only my great-grandfather was still alive to see that his music continues on..."
Legacy[link]
In 2008, Marty McFly was selected by Empire magazine as the 39th greatest movie character of all time.[7]
The British band McFly was named after Marty McFly because the vocalist Tom Fletcher is a fan of the Back to the Future trilogy.[8]
Relient K wrote a song about Marty McFly called "Hello McFly" on their eponymous first album.
New Found Glory did a song based on Marty McFly called "Back To The Future" under their side-project International Superheroes of Hardcore[9]
Canadian skate punk band "Darryl's Grocery Bag" wrote a song about the character entitled "Marty", which was released on the 1998 compilation "Wet Feet", put out by the independent Canadian label "Meter Records". [10] The song starts out with a voice snippet of Biff Tannen from the first "Back To The Future" movie.
In an episode of Fringe, a billboard in a parallel universe in 1985 displays the title "Back to the Future" though it also lists Eric Stoltz in the lead role as Marty McFly.
References[link]
- ^ Telltale, Incorporated. Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 3: Citizen Brown. (March 28, 2011)
- ^ Back To The Future Episode 1: It's About Time Video Game, Exclusive Behind The Scenes Part II: Hey McFly! Gametrailers
- ^ a b c d e Back to the Future (DVD). 1985.
- ^ a b c Back to the Future Part II. 1989.
- ^ a b c Back to the Future Part III. 1990.
- ^ The "Back to the Future" Universe - kristensheley.com
- ^ "Empire's The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Empire Magazine. http://www.empireonline.com/100-greatest-movie-characters/default.asp?c=39. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ^ "McFly - Harry chats to ilikemusic.com". ilikemusic.com. September 2004. http://www.ilikemusic.com/interviews/-684/7. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ Lyrics of "Back To The Future" by ISHC
- ^ "Wet Feet" compilation album track list
External links[link]
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http://wn.com/Marty_McFly
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_McFly
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
